A battle over a multibillion-dollar artificial intelligence data center near St. Louis has moved to the national stage.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, used the ongoing political upheaval in Festus to illustrate what he calls a fight for the nation’s “moral covenant” against big tech.
Although petitioners gained enough signatures to recall the city’s mayor and two councilmen, the Festus City Council voted Monday not to move forward with the recall elections.
Hawley’s keynote address at the 2026 American Compass New World Gala last week focused on the great risks AI poses to American workers, arguing it is a direct threat to the country’s moral fabric. He warned the rapid deployment of AI is creating a “K-shaped economy” in which a small group of tech elites rises to incredible wealth while ordinary workers are pulled down.
“The upper arm grows fabulously rich,” Hawley said at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. “The lower arm gets quietly replaced, and what is harder to bear than the loss of a wage? Quietly less needed.”