| New reporting details how career politician, insider, and lobbyist Joe Mitchell raked in nearly $100,000 from a company known as a “data center PR agency.”
Mitchell made $92,500 in “consulting fees” for a public relations firm that “helps AI developers navigate public opinion, regulatory hurdles, and community concerns” – as Mitchell also backed the Big, Ugly Bill that gave billions of dollars in handouts to data center developers by raising costs for Iowa families.
DCCC Spokesperson Katie Smith:
“Iowans continue to learn more about Joe Mitchell’s long record as a political insider working to enrich himself at Iowans’ expense. Mitchell raked in nearly $100,000 consulting for a company known as a ‘data center PR agency’ before backing the bill that gave data center developers billions in tax breaks – he’s working for himself, not for Iowans.”
Read more:
Lever News: This PR Populist Is Quiet About His Data Center Past
Iowa Republican Joe Mitchell says he’s fighting insiders and lobbyists, but he worked for a public relations firm that boasts, “Data center developers count on us.”
- Republican Congressional candidate in Iowa has pitched himself as an anti-corruption crusader, swearing off corporate PAC donations and claiming to represent voters who’ve “been left behind by a broken political system that works for insiders and lobbyists.” But as rapid data center development in his northeastern Iowa district has spurred multiple construction moratoriums, former state Rep. Joe Mitchell has worked as one of those insiders, earning nearly $100,000 consulting for a “data center PR agency.”
- Mitchell, a 29-year-old real estate developer worth as much as $21 million, is running for Iowa’s open 2nd Congressional District seat, which is being vacated by Rep. Ashley Hinson (R) as she runs for Senate. After serving two terms in the Iowa legislature from 2019 until 2023, Mitchell brought his expertise to KAOH Media, a public relations firm which, by its own description, “helps AI developers navigate public opinion, regulatory hurdles, and community concerns.”
- “Data center developers count on us,” reads KAOH’s website.
- According to financial disclosures reviewed by The Lever, KAOH paid Mitchell $92,500 in consulting fees between 2024 and 2025.
- Mitchell also joined the 2024 Trump administration transition team and later worked for the Federal Housing Finance Agency before being appointed a regional administrator for the Department of Housing and Urban Development in July 2025.
- During that time, Mitchell cheerleaded President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill tax-cut act, which he praised as “historic” and a “huge deal.” According to The American Prospect, the final law awarded major tax breaks to data center developers as well as JPMorgan, which has provided billions in funding for data center deals.
- According to executives at KHAO — where Mitchell was contracted — Americans’ opposition to data centers stems, in part, from ignorance.
- “People often hear about power demand or tax incentives before they understand what a project will actually contribute locally,” KHAO CEO Brad McAfee told Newsweek, which identified his firm as a “data center PR agency.” “A controversy in one community can shape sentiment and policy conversations elsewhere almost overnight, and social media accelerates both legitimate concerns and misinformation.”
- Mitchell has postured as anti-insider and anti-special interests, supporting term limits and a Congressional stock trading ban. But Salon reports that as a developer, Mitchell was president of a trade organization that spent nearly $75,000 on lobbyists in its fight against real estate regulation.
- Mitchell has also sworn off donations from Big Business, saying he won’t “take a dime of corporate PAC money.” But in July, Iowa Starting Line found that Mitchell’s campaign accepted more than $17,500 from PACs “tied to the home builders and mortgage industry, the exact industry that he used to regulate for the federal government.”
- Mitchell could not be reached by The Lever for comment.
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