The Minnesota Star Tribune reports...

Amy Klobuchar and Lisa Demuth offered competing visions for Minnesota’s economy on Monday, debating how to lower costs, stop fraud, attract businesses and regulate the fast-growing artificial intelligence industry.

Data centers were on the agenda…

Both candidates for governor said local communities should have the power to approve or stop data centers in their hometowns. Klobuchar and Demuth have similar positions on the issue, generally supporting the construction of these large projects and opposing substantial new state regulations.

Demuth noted that the Legislature in 2025 passed a bill when she was House speaker — led initially by DFLers — aimed at protecting the state’s climate goals and preventing energy bills from rising because of the cost of data centers.

Klobuchar said she would support further restrictions on the use of nondisclosure agreements by data center companies. A bill to ban those NDAs was voted down by Republicans in a House committee last year, and Klobuchar blamed Demuth for the measure not advancing. Since that vote, on the campaign trail, Demuth has also called for a ban on NDAs for data centers.