Big Tech Billionaire Targets Florida Democratic Legislative Candidates
Tallahassee, FL – Last week, it was reported that First Amendment LLC, a new Political Committee funded entirely by Big Tech billionaire Scott Banister, would be spending more than half a million dollars targeting Democrats in state legislative races in Florida. Banister, an original member of the “Paypal Mafia” and longtime Republican donor, is now heavily invested in AI development and building data centers around the country, as well as Flock surveillance cameras.
“Florida Republicans are handing our neighborhoods over to Big Tech for massive data centers and turning our streets into a Flock-powered surveillance state. Now one of the industry’s billionaires is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars to defeat the Democrats standing in his way,” said Florida Democratic Party Chair Nikki Fried. “Whatever happened to ‘Don’t Tread on Me’? Apparently that only applies when Republicans aren’t the ones doing the treading. Democrats aren’t going anywhere, and we’ll keep fighting for Florida families stuck paying higher power bills while Republicans sell our state to the highest bidder.”
“It was President Franklin D. Roosevelt who said ‘I ask you to judge me by the enemies I have made‘ and it is clear that Democrats in Florida have struck a nerve among the Big Tech billionaires looking to control our lives,” stated Senate Democratic-Leader Designate Tracie Davis. “But while Big Tech is rushing to build AI data centers in our backyards, and Florida Republicans are forcing them onto us by negotiating secret deals with no public input, Democrats will keep fighting to ensure it is the people, not the powerful, who have the final say over our futures.”
“We need commonsense guardrails to keep kids safe, protect our communities, and hold AI and data center corporations accountable when they put profits over people,” declared Senator Brian Nathan. “That’s why I am proud to have called for a moratorium on data center development to safeguard our communities against pollution, skyrocketing utility rates, and to protect our Florida way of life, as well as real AI oversight to protect our children, privacy, and jobs before it’s too late.”
“Floridians know that our futures should belong to us, not Big Tech billionaires or data center developers who don’t give a damn about our communities,” said House Democratic Leader-Designate Christine Hunschofsky. “Floridians can rest assured that Democrats will not be intimidated into backing down from doing what is right for working families and seniors in our state.”
“When Project Tango was proposed in our backyard here in Palm Beach county, people fought back and demanded full transparency into the process, time to understand the impacts, and the local freedom to decide what’s best for our community,” stated Representative Emily Gregory. “Whether a Big Tech billionaire likes it or not, I’m proud to stand with my neighbors against these attacks on our quality of life and our children’s futures and there’s no amount of money that will ever stop me from doing what’s right for the people I’ve been trusted to represent.”