Alice Herman/Suncoast Searchlight

On a July evening in Washington, D.C., right-wing operatives and artificial intelligence enthusiasts gathered in a historic building on Capitol Hill to sip cocktails and hear from Florida officials about their efforts to slash local spending across the Sunshine State. Standing in front of a pair of American flags, Florida’s Department of Government Efficiency — DOGE — director Eric Soskin and a collection of organizational “partners” offered up a pitch. What Elon Musk tried and abandoned in Washington, they said, is alive in Tallahassee — and up for franchise.

Sarasota commissioners voted on Wednesday to halt the “acceptance, review and approval” of any major data centers until at least July 2027, but seemed eager to push for an outright ban in perpetuity. The move comes as data center developments become a flashpoint for local governments across the country, including neighboring DeSoto County, which approved a similar moratorium this week.

After nearly three hours of emotional public comment, DeSoto County commissioners on Tuesday took the first step toward a one-year moratorium on data centers. By a unanimous vote, four of the county’s commissioners — one recused himself — agreed to direct the county attorney to prepare language for an ordinance that would bar them from accepting new data center applications in the coming year.

As DeSoto County leaders have pursued what they hope will become an economic lifeline, they have accelerated reviews and embraced interpretations of county rules that help clear the way for a massive data center project whose environmental impacts remain largely unknown.

In March, DeSoto County voted to rezone 34 acres of land on a decommissioned power plant to allow the company DCIP Group to begin the process of constructing its first data center there, using natural gas supplied from the Florida Gas Transmission Pipeline. County commissioners have embraced the proposal, which they herald as financial salvation that could fill the county’s coffers and help the rural community weather budget shortfalls.

The Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office is expanding its surveillance capabilities, tapping a state fund to purchase a software platform that offers AI-powered data analysis with the stroke of a key.

The Florida Legislature has just days in the current session to kill controversial provisions in a state law limiting local jurisdictions from regulating growth. Senate Bill 180, which passed with nearly unanimous approval last year, limits cities and counties from advancing any measures deemed more “burdensome or restrictive” on development in the wake of major storms. The law spurred backlash from local governments that had spent months — in some cases years — crafting planning policies, only to see them struck down by the state.

During an October meeting of Sarasota MAGA Patriots — a rightwing coalition pursuing a range of issues, from anti-vaccine activism to emergency preparedness — attendees railed against a new state law curbing local oversight of development and the Republican lawmakers who backed it.Their ire reflects tensions inside Florida’s dominant party, between Tallahassee’s power brokers and the populist base that helped put them there.