On April 8, voters in Festus, Missouri, removed four incumbent city council members in an election centered on a proposed data center. First Alert 4 reported turnout was 129 percent higher than in the city's April 2025 election. All four challengers won by large margins.
The council had voted 6-2 on March 31 to approve an agreement with developer CRG. Opponents called the process secretive and dismissive of public concerns. New council members Rick Belleville and Dan Moore said the result was a direct response from residents who felt ignored.
Mayor Sam Richards said the incoming council cannot stop the project because the contract has been signed. The new members said attorneys have told them otherwise: that the agreement can still be suspended and the developer's funds returned. Residents are also organizing recall pressure against the mayor and council members who were not on the April ballot.
The developer is not backing away. In a follow-up interview with First Alert 4, Clayco executive Bob Clark said the region risks falling behind if it turns back data-center development. He described the project's promised gains in direct terms: a $6 billion investment, tens of millions in annual local revenue, and roughly 100 to 200 long-term jobs.
Residents' questions run along a different axis. Water use, noise, air quality, buyouts of nearby homes, and cumulative effects on the surrounding community went unresolved before the March 31 vote — and opponents say the council's willingness to sign anyway is what drove the April turnout.
Two positions now sit in the same jurisdiction. One frames the project as a strategic investment and a chance to hold eastern Missouri's place in the data-center buildout. The other frames it as a decision made too fast, with too much left unanswered, for a community asked to absorb the costs.
National coverage of AI infrastructure tends to treat data centers as industrial policy, grid planning, or competition with China. In Festus, the dispute ran on narrower ground: water, noise, air quality, home buyouts, and the pace of the council's decision. Four incumbents lost their seats over it.
