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AI and data centers confront a new political landscape
A rebuke of this size that voters handed to the Republican Party on Tuesday is not driven by a single issue. Whatever issues divide Americans, large numbers agreed on, “not this.”
On the list of “not this”: data centers. More than 40 ballot measures were under consideration in states and communities across the country, according to Ballotpedia. In most of them, voters appeared to be decidedly hostile toward new construction.
Even before Election Day, data centers and their supporters were facing increasing headwinds, both at the local level — most of the ballot measures considered Tuesday were local initiatives — and statewide, where a number of candidates campaigned effectively against unchecked expansion of the facilities.
In Ohio, former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown defeated Sen. John Husted, who Brown called the “face of data centers.” More than 20 initiatives on data centers were on local ballots across the state.
In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott, a strong supporter of data centers and AI development, last month reversed course and called for a moratorium in data center approvals. He lost to Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, who sought to link Abbott to Elon Musk and “15 billionaire tech dudes who are amassing all our money, all our power, and all our data and are about to blow up the world if we don’t come together fast to save ourselves.”
In Georgia, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Lance Bottoms favored a statewide moratorium; Republican Rick Jackson favored leaving decisions to local officials. Bottoms won.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, previously welcoming to tech development, pivoted to calling for action against “greedy developers.” He sailed to re-election.
In an interview with Wired, New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani said, “I think the movement to oppose data centers is one that gives me a real sense of hope.”
Asked why, he explained, “Because it shows the ways in which this fight is cutting across the typical lines that separate Americans. It’s a bipartisan fight. Me and Ron DeSantis don’t have much in common, and yet there is a similar opposition to the development of these kinds of data centers.”
According to NPR:
Data centers have “upended politics as we know it,” says Darrell West, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. It’s more than a not-in-my-backyard issue, he says — it also reflects existential fears that artificial intelligence will take jobs or eliminate humanity entirely.
“People just feel like they no longer have control over the technology, [and] that worries them,” West says. “This is a real grassroots movement. It’s ordinary people all across the country, both Republicans and Democrats.”
Ballotpedia: Data center-related ballot measures, 2026
Statista: Topic: Data center construction in the United States
Wired: ‘Our Risk, Their Reward’: Zohran Mamdani on AI and Data Centers (Nov. 3)
Washington Sun: How the Data Center Debate Revived Local Politics in 2026 (Nov. 3)
Politico: How mad are voters about data centers? Watch these races. (Nov. 2)
Stateline: Data center backlash set to sway midterm elections (Oct. 12)
NPR: The data center backlash is reshaping American politics — one community at a time (Sept. 21)