Voters in Independence, Missouri, voted on Tuesday, September 1, 2026, to recall City Councilmember John Perkins, according to unofficial election results from Jackson County published by NBC News. Nearly 70% of voters in his district chose to remove Perkins after more than a decade in office. The special election was driven by widespread constituent anger over Perkins’s vote in March in favor of billions of dollars in tax breaks for a massive artificial intelligence data center project.
The Nebius AI Data Center Project and Tax Incentives
At the center of the dispute is a proposed hyperscale AI data center campus backed by Nebius, an Amsterdam-based technology company building cloud computing infrastructure for artificial intelligence applications, according to Newsweek. The company plans to construct its flagship U.S. AI facility on nearly 400 acres near Missouri Route 78 and Little Blue Parkway in eastern Independence. The campus is expected to span multiple buildings, requiring up to 800 megawatts of operating power initially, with total capacity potentially reaching 1.2 gigawatts.
Newsweek noted that the Independence City Council passed a 5-2 vote in March endorsing the initiative and granting roughly $150.6 billion worth of industrial development bonds spanning a 20-year period. In return, Nebius is expected to make roughly $651 million in Payments in Lieu of Taxes (PILOTs). The development stands as one of the largest economic projects ever proposed in the city.
Voter Backlash and Municipal Oustings
The recall makes Perkins the third Independence official to lose office over support for the data center, according to NBC News and Newsweek. In April, voters ousted council members Bridget McCandless and Jared Fears, both of whom also voted in favor of the tax incentives. With Perkins’s removal, three of the five council members who originally backed the development have now been replaced.
An effort was mounted by a regional chapter of the progressive Sunrise Movement to rally residents against the financial incentives, NBC News reported. Additionally, a Facebook group titled “Stop the AI Data Center in Independence” amassed nearly 115,000 members, posting a statement on Tuesday night declaring that politicians are elected to serve the people and can be voted out when they stop doing so.
Arguments For and Against the Development
Supporters of the project argue that it will reshape the local economy by attracting billions in investment, generating construction jobs, and establishing Independence as a major hub in the growing AI industry, according to Newsweek. Business groups, labor organizations, and local education leaders backed the project, pointing to the projected PILOT payments that will flow to local taxing jurisdictions over time.
Conversely, critics opposed the scale of the incentives and the legislative process. According to local news coverage from March cited by Newsweek, residents spent hours speaking at public meetings to raise concerns about the facility’s heavy energy demands, water consumption, environmental impact, and whether the city was sacrificing too much tax revenue for a facility expected to create relatively few permanent jobs. A lawsuit has also been filed to try to halt the data center, which is already under construction.