Data Center Public Hearing and ✅ Official Campaign Announcement 📢
Video footage from the Data Center Public Hearing | Recorded on June 25th, 2026
Vanessa Lech's statement during the Public Hearing on June 25th, 2026 at the Spartanburg City, South Carolina Memorial Auditorium. 📢
I don't want a data center or this permit approved anywhere I live or where I work. I do both in Spartanburg.
I also want to point out that, after attending a lot of government meetings, including meetings at the county level in Spartanburg, it's very clear to me that these data centers are wildly unpopular and unwelcome.
I haven't heard a single person come to any of these government meetings and say they want a data center here. Quite the opposite. People have been pleading to stop these data centers from showing up and taking over the natural resources that we need to survive and live.
I live in District 3 in the City of Spartanburg. There are already a lot of quality-of-life issues, and I believe a data center would only make those issues exponentially worse.
It was also striking to me that when the audience was asked whether there were any elected officials who wanted to stand up and speak, no one stood up. It appeared that none of our elected officials were there.
That really proved to me what I've been saying recently: there is no REAL representation from many of our current elected officials, and that needs to change.
I support quality of life, civic engagement, and I encourage each and every one of you to run for local public office.
I'm not joking. There are elected officials serving on City Council who have recently run unopposed. They weren't there that night either, and that reflects the lack of REAL representation our community deserves.
After everything that happened, I decided to officially launch my campaign for Spartanburg City Council, District 3.
I encourage you to learn about your local offices and I encourage you to run, too.
Everyone needs to start running.
You don't have to come from a political background. I've never run for office before in my life. I've never organized a political campaign. I'm just figuring it out.
But if you care about your community, you need to get involved. We need more people willing to step up, run for office, and stand for accountability.
Thank you, and good night.