09/01/2026
https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1JhLoB5fEK/?mibextid=wwXIfr
On August 31st at 6:00 pm in Center, Missouri, I was invited to speak at a public meeting on data centers in Ralls County. My opponent Roth McElvain (R) joined me and spoke first on his background in farming and agriculture, his position on farm use for other ventures, and on the issue of data centers, could go either way. For my take, I talked about my background in healthcare, my residency in Hannibal, and my understanding of the consumer fallout of Wall Street capital investment in AI. If you are fortunate enough to have a 401(k), Roth IRA, Index Fund with Vanguard or Blackrock, it is likely that your retirement is being parked in AI with the hope of future profits from tech companies. The problem is you have NVidia making the chips, they give money to Open AI to make Chat GPT, and they give money to Oracle Cloud Computing, and they in turn give money to NVidia, and the closed cycle continues. We are pumping money into an industry that is loosing billions of dollars. Open AI has already lost more than $20 Billion dollars, and Republicans are throwing more money into it to keep the industry going. Gov. Kehoe already stated, as the head of the Missouri Republican Party, he wants our State to be the next Silicon Valley of AI. You would have thought that after more than 83% voted against Amendments 4 & 5 in the August Primary, he would have got the message of the one finger salute for his Republican agenda for Missouri. Why not instead of building data centers, fully fund public education, or expand rural healthcare funding, or protect SNAP and WIC funding? Why not instead of building data centers we invested in the people of Missouri? And now, we have ammendment 7 on the ballot to create a wealth fund to use tax money to invest in tech companies in the hope AI pays off to create profits to fund the government of Missouri. This is all insane, and not the Republican party my parents raised me to believe in. I left the Republicans to become a Democrat to defend direct democracy, and protect the vote of the people. I pledge, here tonight in front of everyone, that if I am elected State Representative of District 5 on November 3rd, I will sponsor a Bill making it illegal in the State of Missouri for any employer to layoff a worker and replace them with AI. That is my campaign pledge to the voters. And for everyone to know, I am 80% against data centers and 20% open minded. That is where I stand. Democrats are the direct democracy party, and we want the people to have more control over governance. If you want to be involved, I encourage you to visit your County Courthouse and get information on your political Central Committee for your County. Democrat, Republican, Green Party, Libertarians, you have a Central Committee in your county to get an appointment and join the political conversation directly with Jefferson City and shape the future of your movement. I want to be your State Representative, and I would be honored to have your vote on November 3rd. ~ John Paul Tomko
