Will data center backlash decide the midterms?

The AI data center backlash is real. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) just signed off on the nation’s first state-level moratorium on data center construction, and other governors may follow. Voter anger at the facilities may be a major factor in this fall’s midterm elections, though how it plays out is still anybody’s guess. The issue does not easily map onto party-line divisions, and both Democrats and Republicans are trying to figure out the path forward.

What did the commentators say?

Congressional Democrats are looking at the New York example and are “hoping to seize on the issue in the November midterms,” said Politico. The issue could serve as a “bridge” between moderates like Hochul and progressives like Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), who have “clamored for more restrictions” on artificial intelligence. Opposing data centers might be good politics. A whopping 71% of Americans “don’t want an A.I. data center built close to where they live,” said The New York Times. Democrats could be poised to take advantage. When U.S. voters “feel like there’s some industry or sector of the economy that’s out of control, they reach for Democrats,” said Heatmap’s Robinson Meyer to the outlet.

The challenge is that while Democrats see data centers as a problem, “they disagree on what to do about it,” said The Hill. The centers’ role in “exacerbating both electricity bills and climate change” makes restrictions a “no-brainer” for some in the party, especially in a year when affordability concerns are center stage. But neither Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) nor House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) has backed a “specific proposal to achieve those ends.” And other Democrats like Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer have meanwhile “rolled out the red carpet” for data center projects, Stephen Starr said at The Guardian. Opposing data centers “should be an easy way to win votes” for Democrats. Embracing construction is “risking their midterm hopes.”

The GOP also faces divisions over the issue. A “string of polls” shows that “even a majority of Republicans” oppose data center construction, said The Washington Post, and some Republican candidates are pitching themselves as defenders of local communities against the projects. Others have decided to “stake out firmly pro-AI positions” out of “concerns about losing the AI war to China.” The centers are “key to the revolution that’s coming,” Arizona congressional candidate Jay Feely said in a podcast interview.

What next?

The Trump administration is attempting to “quell public concerns” ahead of the midterms by inviting GOP governors to sign a “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” that would commit data center developers to “pay for their fair share of energy and water use.” Meanwhile, AI and tech groups connected to OpenAI, Anthropic, Meta and Google are “flooding money into the midterms,” said NPR. The election outcomes will have a “big impact on the shape” of any new legislation that regulates the sector over the next two years. Work in the current Congress “remains stalled” even though there is “bipartisan support to do something about the technology.”