Opinion

DAVID MARCUS: West Virginian fairgoers are worried, but not about prices

Jefferson County residents voice concerns over groundwater use, power lines and loss of local control to Big Tech

By David Marcus Fox News

Published August 20, 2026 6:30pm EDT

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West Virginia fairgoers reveal the issue cutting across party lines: ‘Too much growth’

West Virginia fairgoers voice concerns about data centers, rapid growth, water use and local control as development expands in Jefferson County.

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Since the 1950s, the Jefferson County Fair in West Virginia has been serving up prize pigs, hefty heifers and fried everything for a citizenry that still adores it. 

As politicians have long known, it is among the best places on Earth to take the temperature of the American voter.

Over the two days, while stuffing the old Marcus face with corn dogs and pepperoni rolls, I had expected the political talk to be about prices, or affordability, as the Democratic Socialists and the mainstream media call it. But what most people wanted to talk about was data centers.

"I’m a farmer," Roy, who raises cattle nearby, told me. "Data centers, power lines, all of that, it's a threat to us. All we've got is the land."

Country roads take West Virginians home across the Virginia State Line near Charles Town. (Charlie Creitz/Fox News)

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