Amazon, data centers and the race for Oregon governor
OPB | by Antonio Sierra
FILE: A cow on Josh Walton's property walks in front of a data center in Umatilla, Ore., on April 3, 2026. Saskia Hatvany / OPB
Kelly Doherty had been in elected office for less than a month when Amazon reached out.
In a July 2023 email, an Amazon representative congratulated Doherty on winning a seat on the commission that oversees the Port of Morrow in Eastern Oregon and offered to introduce her to Sheena Sharma and Courtney Lee.
Sharma and Lee weren’t just any Amazon employees. Three years after Doherty received the email, Amazon selected the pair of executives to make the case for data centers to legislators in Salem during a September public hearing.
From Oregon’s highest corridors of power to an inland industrial port serving a rural county of 12,000 people, Amazon has spent the better part of the past 15 years ingratiating the company with government officials and elected representatives as the tech and e-commerce giant has steadily expanded its data center footprint in the state. But more than a decade of behind-the-scenes work hasn’t prevented the political winds from rapidly shifting against the data center industry.
A recent poll commissioned by OPB showed that nearly two-thirds of likely Oregon voters favor a temporary ban on data centers. An even bigger group — more than 70% — are against a data center being built near their home, according to the survey conducted by the nonpartisan firm DHM Research.