The president of Utah's State Senate lost his seat in a Republican primary Tuesday after he expressed support for a huge data center to be built in the state.

J. Stuart Adams, one of the longest-serving politicians in Utah, lost the GOP nomination to Stephanie Hollist.

Hollist ran on her opposition to a data center that Adams championed, which would be built on a 40,000-acre site about 60 miles north of Salt Lake City.

Though the data center was not in Adams' district, he served as chairman of a Utah agency that approved initial plans this spring to build the data center, known as Stratos, in Box Elder County, The New York Times reported.

The data center is backed by "Shark Tank" panelist Kevin O'Leary. It has faced heated opposition from Utah voters, who expressed concern about how much energy it would consume and how its water usage would impact an area dealing with a drought, according to the Times.

Adams originally praised the data center in a press release last month saying, "This project supports the free world through reliable energy supply while creating real opportunity for communities here at home."

But as voter backlash grew, Adams sent O'Leary a letter demanding massive cuts to the size and scope of the data center, which O'Leary agreed to, The Times reported.

Adams later sent out campaign mailings that touted him for getting tough on data centers.

The project needs to go through several reviews before construction begins, according to The Times.

A Republican commissioner in Box Elder County who supported the data center lost his own primary race while another is behind in his race, which has not been called.

In her victory speech, Hollist said voters showed they were "tired of feeling like they're not seeing themselves represented in government."

Hollist is expected to easily win election in the deep red district.