After the midterms, a bigger clash over data centers could be coming

Key points

• Democrats won full control of Congress in the November 3 midterms, with Republicans holding the White House.
• An NBC exit poll found almost 80% of respondents oppose data centers being built in their neighborhoods.
• Candidates opposing rapid data center buildout won seats in Texas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and South Carolina.

Democrats gained full control of Congress in the November 3 midterm elections, with Republicans holding the White House, according to TechCrunch. The results suggest that public anger over data centers, the large facilities housing the computers that power AI, is becoming a political force that could lead to new limits on where such facilities are built and how much say local communities have.

Data centers became a ballot-box issue in several states. An NBC exit poll found that more than half of respondents believe AI will do more harm than good, almost 80% oppose data centers being built in their neighborhoods, and almost 60% said data centers were a crucial or major factor in their vote.

Local pushback and races

Voters in several states pushed back against the AI buildout even as pro-AI super PACs spent millions. In Ohio, the county where Meta had planned a 700,000-square-foot facility passed a ban on data centers, and local communities across the state overwhelmingly voted against data center buildout measures. Morgan Stanley analysts predict Democratic governor-elect Amy Acton will pose a major risk to Ohio's data center buildout.

Candidates in Texas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia and South Carolina won seats after opposing the rapid buildout. Researcher Anshi Bhatt said "money does not buy outcomes" and that creating a local villain is one way to build campaign momentum.

It is clear that money does not buy outcomes

— Anshi Bhatt

Possible next steps

Likely next steps include more construction moratoriums or requiring data centers to pay for their own power grid upgrades rather than passing costs to nearby communities. Goldman Sachs predicts construction delays in states like Georgia and Texas because of Democratic gains.

Democratic control of Congress could improve the odds for a bill by Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez proposing a nationwide moratorium on new data centers until Congress adds guardrails, though any such bill would face a possible veto. Sen. Martin Heinrich's GRID Savings Act would prevent grid infrastructure costs from being passed on to communities during large AI data center buildouts.

What advocates said

Nadine Smith, president and CEO of Color of Change, called the election a referendum on who the economy is built for. She said she expects a fight, or more executive orders, to bypass what Congress is likely to block, and noted that even among Democrats a blanket freeze is contested.

Maia Woluchem of the nonprofit Data & Society said she expects additional movement at the state and local level regardless of federal action, citing governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who supports a statewide moratorium on data centers in Texas.