Utah Senate President defeated in primary over data center

In a stunning political upset, Utah Senate President J. Stuart Adams was defeated in his Republican primary election on Tuesday, June 23, 2026, after his support for a massive data center project drew intense voter backlash. Adams, one of the state's longest-serving and most powerful politicians, lost to challenger Stephanie Hollist, a former university lawyer who campaigned against the proposed Stratos Hyperscale Data Center.

The project, backed by celebrity investor Kevin O'Leary, is planned for a site in Box Elder County, a few miles north of the drought-stricken Great Salt Lake. At its proposed scale, the development could become one of the world's largest data centers. Adams became the focal point of public anger because he chairs a state agency that approved initial plans for Stratos this spring, and he had publicly praised the project for supporting reliable energy supply and creating opportunity.

Thousands of voters, many of them lifelong Republicans, voiced fierce opposition over concerns about the center's enormous energy consumption and its potential impact on the Great Salt Lake's limited water resources. Critics also accused state officials of granting the project...