Residents in Independence, Missouri on Tuesday voted overwhelmingly to recall a city councilman—apparently over his vote to approve tax incentives for an artificial intelligence data center in the community.
In total, 68% of voters in the city’s District 1 voted to recall Councilman John Perkins, with just 32% voting to let him stay in office.
According to KMBC News 9, Perkins had originally been elected to serve through June 2028, but he will now be forced to step down as soon as the results of the Tuesday election are certified.
The election marked the first time in Independence’s history that a councilperson has been successfully recalled.
In an interview with Spectrum News Kansas City, Perkins expressed no regrets about his decision to approve the data center even though it led to him getting soundly rejected by voters.
“I still have a 40-hour-a-week job, I cut meat for Price Chopper,” Perkins explained. “I’ve laid some really good foundation, so it was time to pass the baton.”
The recall election of an Independence councilman is official: John Perkins of the city’s first district is out. 68% of voters recalled Perkins. This ends a five-month long effort to remove him from office after he passed tax abatements for an AI data center. pic.twitter.com/fpeEd6fAhj
— Spectrum News Kansas City (@SpectrumNewsKC) September 2, 2026
Perkins was targeted by the recall campaign after he was one of five council members who voted to approve a $150 billion Nebius AI data center that is projected to take up 2.25 million square feet of land in the city.
Two other council members, Bridget McCandless and Jared Fears, were also voted out of office in April after voting in favor of tax incentives for the project.
Independence resident Elisa Breitenbach, an opponent of the planned data center, grew emotional during an interview with Fox 4 Kansas City when explaining her support for the recall campaign.
“It’s so sad what’s happened in our city,” said Breitenbach, “to see people being robbed of what they thought they had.”
Perkins’ recall is just the latest sign of a nationwide backlash against AI data centers, which have been criticized for being major sources of pollution and for raising local utility bills by consuming so much power.
A poll conducted by Embold Research and published by Heatmap Pro last month showed that 75% of Americans now oppose building AI data centers in their area, including 61% registering strong opposition.
Data centers do have an ally in President Donald Trump, however, as he warned Americans this week that their communities will “end up being backwards and poor” if they reject the power-hungry AI facilities.
But McKenna Cobb, a resident who led the recall effort, said people in Independence had spoken loud and clear about their views on the data center—and were ignored by Perkins and other council members.
“There are hours of public testimony,” she told KMBC News, “and they still voted in favor of billions of dollars in tax incentives.”
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