Less than three weeks after Virginia Democrats lost their congressional redistricting fight in court, the party's top leaders spent the weekend publicly battling over data centers and a state budget that remains unfinished.
Senate Finance Chair Louise Lucas blasted Gov. Abigail Spanberger and House Speaker Don Scott after budget negotiations broke down Friday, accusing fellow Democrats of protecting data center interests while refusing to make the industry pay more for the costs associated with its rapid growth across Virginia.
The disagreement quickly turned personal and public.
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At the center of the fight is a question Virginia lawmakers have been unable to answer since March: Should the commonwealth end a sales tax exemption that has saved data center developers billions of dollars, or would doing so undermine an industry that supports 74,000 jobs and generates more than $2 billion in local tax revenue?
The Senate, led by Lucas, says the exemption amounts to a giveaway to the richest corporations in the country. The House and Spanberger have argued that ripping it away would break faith with employers who invested in Virginia on the assumption that the policy would hold.
The two sides came close to a deal on June 5. Lucas said she and Torian had been making progress before a meeting with Spanberger that morning changed the trajectory.
Just when I thought Chairman Torian and I were getting close to agreeing on a budget, we had a meeting with Data Center Diva this morning and she agrees with Amazon Don who doesn’t want to impact the richest corporations in the country. https://t.co/0VoOUeoFnm pic.twitter.com/cYa2YL2z4y
— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) June 5, 2026
What followed was a rapid-fire series of posts that left little doubt about where Lucas stood. She dubbed Spanberger "Data Center Diva" and Scott "Amazon Don," a reference to Amazon's massive data center footprint in Northern Virginia, and accused both of walking away from a deal rather than accepting compromise.
Let me be clear—I came up with several compromises to get us out of this mess! These compromises didn’t give me everything. But Data Center Diva and Amazon Don couldn’t understand that this is about the policy—fair taxation and protecting our resources and citizens.
— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) June 5, 2026
Amazon Don and Data Center Diva, you are making a MONUMENTAL MISTAKE! Maybe you should ask Glenn Youngkin how that worked out for him!
— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) June 5, 2026
In a formal statement released the same day, Lucas went further, arguing that Spanberger was trading away revenue the state will need to cover rising costs, and pre-empting the inevitable spin from the other side.
— L. Louise Lucas (@SenLouiseLucas) June 5, 2026
"Today, the Governor and House decided that they did not want to alter the freeloading policy for data centers. They decided that this was far more important than having data centers pay their fair share to provide services to the people of the Commonwealth for the next two years."
Lucas also pushed back on what she expected the other side to say, that the state's revenue reforecast makes new data center taxes unnecessary. She argued that Spanberger was giving up revenue Virginia will need to cover rising costs for core services, and that the policy question goes beyond dollars alone.
"I know the Governor and House's narrative will be that I wasn't willing to compromise or to meet. This is simply not true. We attempted to move forward multiple times. With the support of the Senate conferees, I have offered multiple compromise options that would have provided revenue from data centers. Under these compromises, neither side got everything."
Data centers need to pay their fair share. The House and Governor have thrown up their hands believing that it is too hard for them to solve in 25 days. The Senate conferees continue to work on a budget for all Virginians by June 30th."
Spanberger, for her part, rejected the framing that she had gone soft on data centers. In a post on social media, she listed teacher raises, rising Medicaid costs, and the impacts of the federal "One Big Beautiful Bill" among her budget priorities, and maintained that her proposals would make data centers pay more.
I have made my priorities clear — including raises for teachers and other public employees, funding to address rising Medicaid costs and the impacts of the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill,’ and working to make Virginia more affordable.⁰⁰I have also been clear that data centers in…
— Governor Abigail Spanberger (@GovernorVA) June 7, 2026
"I have also been clear that data centers in Virginia need to pay their fair share for the energy they use. I have brought proposals to the table that would make data centers pay more for the energy they use and address environmental concerns, including air pollution, water and energy use, and noise."
The difference, in other words, is not whether data centers pay more; it is how much more, and through what mechanism.
House leadership moved quickly to tamp down the conflict. Scott and Torian released a joint statement that was notably warmer in tone toward Lucas than toward the substance of the dispute.
Statement from Speaker Don Scott and House Approps Chair Luke Torian pic.twitter.com/f5z7St2NYV
— Brandon Jarvis (@Jaaavis) June 5, 2026
Scott said he has "the utmost respect" for Lucas, calling her "a trailblazer, a mentor, and one of the most consequential leaders in Virginia's history," and expressed confidence that Torian and Lucas would reach a deal. Torian struck a similar note, saying the House remains "ready to meet" and committed to a budget that invests in schools, housing, healthcare and economic opportunity.
Neither statement addressed the data center impasse directly.
The broader stakes were underscored by Sen. Scott Surovell, who warned on social media that some lawmakers were already floating a DC-style continuing resolution to keep the government funded past the deadline, something Virginia has never done.
Some now want 2 bring DC-style continuing resolutions to VA instead of resolving difficult problems & making choices between teachers and data centers - Virginia has never done that in our history. We've always passed a full budget by July 1, and this year should be no different
— Senator Scott Surovell - ssurovell.bsky.social (@ssurovell) June 5, 2026
Republicans were watching and enjoying it. Former Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli responded publicly, mocking the fight:
Ready!
— Ken Cuccinelli II (@KenCuccinelli) June 5, 2026
Fire!
Aim! https://t.co/zqmaZr0Hlf
With roughly 20 days until the June 30 deadline, Virginia Democrats have managed to lose a redistricting fight, blow up their own budget negotiations, and air the wreckage on social media. And all this before the summer recess. The fight over data centers that began in March is no closer to resolution, and the party that promised to deliver for Virginians is now publicly arguing about whether it can.
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