Bayly Winder has taken to driving around New Jersey’s 2nd Congressional District with a near life-size cardboard cutout of Jeff Van Drew stuffed into the back of his red Chevy Equinox that he takes out and pretends to debate when he talks to voters.
Winder is a Democrat vying to unseat Van Drew, a four-term Republican Member of Congress, in a South Jersey district that includes Atlantic City, Cape May and Vineland — population, 62,000 — where politics is now colliding with the burgeoning AI industry and its insatiable hunger for electricity.
Recently, the city has found itself home to a contentious 2.6-million square foot AI data center, among some of the largest on the East Coast, developed in part by investors who have given generously to Van Drew’s re-election campaign.
“Van Drew has tried to distance himself from this project now for his own political reasons,” Winder told Gothamist.
Construction on the $17 billion project backed by Microsoft began in early 2025 and the first phase of the site is expected to open later this year. It is designed to draw up to 350 megawatts of power, more than double the city’s current power use.
Since last year, local Vineland residents have raised concerns about what they say is a lack of transparency from local officials about the data center, its potential impact on both the environment and already-rising electric bills in the state, as well as a persistent hum emanating from the site.
Winder and three other Democrats seeking to unseat Van Drew in the typically safe Republican district have made the data center a focus of their political attacks, and they’re casting the incumbent as putting the needs of big tech and corporations over constituents.
Van Drew did not respond to questions about the campaign donations, whether the data center should continue to expand as planned, or residents’ concerns about the environment and rising energy costs.
In a March 13 post on his campaign Facebook page, Van Drew’s campaign manager Ron Filan said Van Drew was not involved in the planning process for the project because “there is no federal government component,” such as permits or leases of federal lands for the data center. Approvals for the project were granted by the local city council and planning board.
“Anyone who tells you otherwise simply isn’t shooting straight,” Filan continued.
Winder, a former federal government advisor who previously worked at the State Department and USAID, who’s raised the most money on the Democratic side of the race, told Gothamist he’s invited Van Drew to multiple town halls to discuss the data center. But he said Van Drew has yet to accept the offer. Thus, the cardboard cutout serves as a prop.
“Saying this is a local project. I don’t have a role as a member of Congress. I just think that is false,” Winder said. “ This is not some little mom and pop operation. This is 30-plus acres in the middle of the district.”
Since 2019, Van Drew has received more than $19,000 from the husband and wife team, John and Lorie Ruga, who run Northeast Precast, a minority shareholder and concrete construction partner in the data center project. The Rugas have also given money to South Jersey First, a political action committee that fundraises on behalf of Van Drew.
“People have a right to donate to campaigns that they want to. But I find it really, really hard to believe that a major donor of his campaign and a major project that is happening in his district, he has no insight on,” said Democratic candidate Terri Reese, who is also running in this year’s primary.
In early 2025, as construction got underway, Ruga thanked Van Drew for his support, calling it “critical” to the data center project. Van Drew has also highlighted Ruga and his company’s contribution to South Jersey.
The Rugas did not respond to a request to comment for this story. Representatives from Data One and the Nebius Group, the companies that developed the data center, also didn’t respond.
The fight in Vineland is part of a national debate over AI data centers in places like Pennsylvania, Indiana and Virginia, and Democrats are trying to translate residents’ concerns over the project into votes.
The party has gained momentum in recent elections around the country by focusing in part on affordability issues. That includes recent wins in New Jersey by progressive Democrat Analilia Mejia in a special congressional election earlier this month and Gov. Mikie Sherrill late last year. Democrats are hoping that dissatisfaction with the Trump administration will spur a ‘blue wave’ of Democratic victories in this year’s midterms.
But Van Drew is a former Democrat-turned MAGA Republican with a long track record of electoral success in both Congress and the state legislature that goes back more than two decades. And in the eyes of some political experts, defeating him will be a heavy lift for Democrats.
“ There are a lot of people who like Donald Trump who live in that district and they like Jeff Van Drew, who is very popular. But it could be competitive,” said Ben Dworkin, director of the Rowan University Institute for Public Policy and Citizenship.
In 2024, Van Drew won reelection for the third time with more than 58% of the vote. The Cook Political Report rates his 2026 race “Solid R,” giving him an expected five-point advantage.
“ If Van Drew goes down… it’s beyond a wave, then we’re talking tsunami,” said Dworkin.
Those opposed to the data center are pushing for a moratorium on the planned expansion of the facility so its economic and environmental impacts can be looked at more closely.
“If we’re going to do this – and there’s an argument for it, particularly when it comes to defense of the country – then we do have to be sound in that regard. But what we’re doing right now is a failed approach, a recipe for disaster,” said Democratic candidate Tim Alexander.
The community may soon learn more about where local officials stand on the future of the project. A meeting of the Vineland planning board is scheduled to discuss Data One’s plans to expand the facility on May 28, just five days before the primary elections on June 2.
