Alabama’s Self-Proclaimed ‘AI Watchman’ Unseats Incumbent Public Service Commissioner

MOBILE, Ala.—Jim Zeigler didn’t have much time to celebrate.

The morning after his Republican primary victory on Tuesday and a gathering of supporters at Wintzell’s Oyster House, the 78-year-old hit the road early to drive the nearly four hours to his hometown of Sylacauga, southwest of Birmingham, to attend a funeral. 

But even this early, Zeigler already had his mind on November. 

“It’s going to be a tough, tough race,” Zeigler said. 

He may be right. 

Like Republicans across the South, Zeigler pointed to recent public service commission elections in Georgia—two Republican to Democratic flips—as a seeming electoral mandate from voters: Lower energy bills and curb data centers, or face citizens’ wrath at the ballot box. 

But, Zeigler said, he believes Democrats’ success in Georgia also came because of an influx of campaign cash from out-of-state donors—a challenge he said he anticipates Alabama Republicans in utility regulation races will face in November as well. 

“It’s not only a possibility that kind of campaign will be attempted in Alabama,” Zeigler said. “It sneaked up on the Republicans of Georgia. It won’t sneak up on me.”

The election of a Democrat to one of Alabama’s at-large PSC seats would be a major electoral shakeup. The last Democrat to serve on the body was elected in 2008. 

Zeigler said his aim in the campaign—both in the primary and general—is to channel voters’ frustrations about data centers and solar farms.

It was those issues, according to Zeigler, that put him past the finish line in the race against his Republican opponent, Chris Beeker, an incumbent with a 5 to 1 campaign finance advantage. 

Beeker, who was appointed to serve the remainder of his father’s term, ran a much less vocal campaign, a stark contrast to Zeigler’s. 

During his campaign, Zeigler has promised he will serve as an “AI watchman in Alabama,” shielding residents from the economic and environmental burdens of the data centers that power AI technology. 

He said he will soon begin rolling out a detailed plan about how he’ll conduct that oversight. One of the first things that should be made public, Zeigler said, is a list of all data centers in Alabama currently operating, proposed or under construction. 

“Right now there is no such a list available to the public,” Zeigler said.

Both Alabama Power and the Alabama Public Service Commission have declined requests by Inside Climate News for such a list. 

Still, despite Zeigler’s pledges, the ability of he or any other public service commissioner to regulate industry effectively will soon be more limited than ever before. Earlier this year, the Alabama Legislature passed a law expanding the commission from three to seven seats and consolidating regulatory power in a newly-created secretary of energy. 

Experts said the legislation stood to benefit Alabama Power, the state’s largest utility, by making the initiation of rate cases scrutinizing energy prices more difficult. 

Zeigler seemed reticent to criticize the new law on Wednesday.

“The fact is it’s law,” he said. “It’s something that I’m just going to have to live with. Move on.”

This won’t be Zeigler’s first time serving on the body. A perennial candidate, he served on the Public Service Commission for a single term from 1975 to 1979. Half a century later, after running for various offices and serving as Alabama’s state auditor from 2015 to 2023, Zeigler said he recognizes that if he wins in November, he’ll be serving in a state much different than it was all that time ago. In 1979, Zeigler said, no one had heard of a data center, much less had one proposed to be built in their back yard. Times have changed. Now, Zeigler himself is figuring out how to deal with ever-evolving technology. 

Zeigler said while his campaign hasn’t generated AI images for publication, it may have shared some created by supporters. Both Zeigler’s website and social media pages feature AI-generated images, one portraying Zeigler in a heroic stance, “THE WATCHMAN” emblazoned across the bottom. 

In it, Zeigler holds a bottle labeled “sunlight, integrity, common sense and sweet tea.” Zeigler, in a houndstooth blazer, a cape and a “people over profits” belt buckle, appears above a monster truck painted in the University of Alabama’s crimson and white. “Zeigler,” the side of the truck says. “Watching out for Alabama!”

Ultimately, Zeigler said it doesn’t matter if his campaign or supporters use AI-generated images in his run for office. 

“I guess eventually I’m going to have to learn how to use AI,” he said. “But the idea that you can’t be a watchman over data centers and try to oversee them if you use any AI yourself is a juvenile analysis.”

Zeigler will face Democrat Sheila McNeil in the November election.