Data center backlash is uniting America

Tech money pours into midterms

If there's one issue that seems to activate all kinds of voters in 2026, it's data centers.

The rapid buildout of these massive server storage facilities - and the infrastructure construction and expenses that come with them - has sparked local opposition in communities across the country and become a major issue in many congressional and gubernatorial campaigns.

Some midterm races come down to ‘people who hate data centers’ versus ‘people who hate them even more.’

At the same time, tech money has been pouring into many of these races. Leading the Future, a super PAC backed by venture capitalist Marc Andreessen and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, has already spent $45 million in a year. And Public First Action, an Anthropic-backed group that says it supports AI safeguards, says it’s raised $80 million. Both have funded Democratic and Republican-aligned groups.

Other super PACs see an opportunity to push for stricter AI policies, like the recently created Tomorrow Together, which launched $4 million in ads for battleground House races, with messages about data center development and AI safety.

All sorts of candidates appear to be distancing themselves from data centers and taking steps to assuage voters’ concerns about unconstrained buildouts in their backyards. How far they’re willing to go - including by backing an outright moratorium on development - varies.

While many Democratic candidates seem likelier to back a pause, that’s not always the case. And though some Republicans have leaned on party messaging about putting development in local control, rather than supporting a ban, others say a pause is exactly what the moment calls for.

Texas gubernatorial and Senate races

Deep red Texas has the second-highest number of planned data center projects in the country after Virginia, and across multiple races, data centers have emerged as a key wedge issue.

Democratic and Republican candidates are all trying to look tough on data centers but emphasize different messages in their plans. For example, in the Senate race, Democratic candidate and State Rep. James Talarico includes references to environmental impact and sharing corporate profit with the public, while Republican candidate and Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton discusses the need to keep Chinese technology out of US data centers.

Both, however, want data centers to bear their own energy infrastructure-related costs and want to do away with certain tax exemptions for them.

In July, Talarico unveiled his “Hold Data Centers Accountable Plan,” which would:

• end state sales tax incentives
• give communities more of a say in data center development
• require a closed-loop water system in new data centers to limit consumption
• create federal standards to protect the energy grid and environment

Talarico has also proposed an “AI Dividend” for Americans that would be funded by a tax on “AI-attributable profits.”

For his part, Paxton’s “Texas First Data Center Plan,” unveiled in August, would support Gov. Greg Abbott’s state-level policies, including:

• repealing sales tax exemptions for data centers
• requiring them to pay for electricity they use and add to state capacity
• preventing AI data centers from building in rural parts of the state

On the federal level, Paxton says he would co-sponsor an existing bill making it easier for data centers to connect to off-grid power systems, introduce new legislation prohibiting the use of Chinese technology to power US data centers or infrastructure, and hold data center companies criminally liable if the facility “empowers AI chatbots that undermine children’s safety.”

In the race for the governor’s office, Democratic challenger and State Rep. Gina Hinojosa has accused Abbott, the Republican incumbent, of “flip-flopping” on data centers.

Abbott’s office put out a press release last year celebrating a $40 billion Google investment that would include three new data center campuses, but in August 2026, with campaign season heating up, he announced an audit that could slow new facilities connecting to the state energy grid.

Hinojosa, who has recently called for a statewide moratorium on data center development, pounced on the perceived inconsistency. “Greg Abbott has zero credibility here. Nobody believes that the arsonist is about to put out the fire,” she said in a social media video.

The outcome of these races remains highly uncertain. Cook Political Report changed its rating for the governor’s race earlier this month from a likely Republican win to one that leans Republican. It says the open field for the Senate race is a toss-up.

Florida gubernatorial race

In Florida, there’s a clash over whether large-scale data centers can be reined in with the right policies or if they should be outright barred in the state.

Democratic candidate and former congressman David Jolly has pledged to install a one-year ban on hyperscale data centers on his first day in office, and hasn’t ruled out a permanent extension. In one ad, Jolly puts data centers in the same breath as crime in a list of things he doesn’t want in Florida.

His Republican opponent, Congressman Byron Donalds, has previously supported data center development in the state and said Florida is “wide open” to build without destroying the state’s beauty. He’s more recently changed his tune though, and while he still doesn’t want to outright ban data centers, he’s tried to assure voters that he’d support policies protecting them from associated risks like higher energy costs.

In July, Donalds introduced the Protecting Ratepayers Act, which would require data center developers to fund the energy and water needed to run their operations. He’s also supported a state law with some similar requirements and environmental guardrails.

“In my Florida, if you don’t protect our pocketbooks and our people, you won’t build data centers, period,” he assures voters in one ad.

Energy experts have warned, however, that Donalds’ pledge to lean on nuclear and natural gas could actually raise costs for consumers.

Despite these efforts, he’s been branded as “Data Center Donalds” by opponents, and polling suggests he may have to fight for conservative voters who also strongly oppose data center development.

An October NBC6/Telemundo Station Group poll found that 45 percent of likely voter respondents opposed data centers in Florida, with 38 percent in support and 17 percent undecided. A higher percentage opposed data centers in their own communities, at 59 percent.

Still, the poll found Donalds has a lead of 48 percent to Jolly’s 41 percent, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 percent. Ten percent of respondents were still undecided.

Pennsylvania gubernatorial race

In one of the country’s relatively few purple states, both candidates for governor have accused each other of changing their rhetoric on data centers just to get votes.

Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro and Republican challenger and state Treasurer Stacy Garrity each appear to have hardened their stances amid the widespread backlash to data center development, even though they previously touted opportunity in such projects.

Shapiro proudly announced a $20 billion investment from Amazon last year that would bring new data centers to the state, and credited Pennsylvania’s new fast track permitting program in helping lure the investment. But this year, Shapiro has tempered his enthusiasm, signing an executive order in August prohibiting nondisclosure agreements for data center developers and taking AI data center proposals off of the fast track.

Shapiro has said his views evolved based on community feedback.

But Garrity, too, has seemed to turn against data centers as the election has drawn closer. In a radio interview last year, she said rural parts of the state would be “perfect places to put data centers,” and they’d be largely welcomed based on the economic opportunity they’d bring. She also praised the Amazon investment Shapiro secured at the time, though it’s now a target of some of her attack ads.

This year, she has said data center developers must engage the community rather than “jam it down their throats,” and she supports a pause on development lasting no more than three years, according to Spotlight PA.

An early October Quinnipiac University poll of likely Pennsylvania voters found 64 percent believed AI data centers in the state would do more harm than good, with a plus or minus 3.9 percent margin of error. But a far larger portion of Democratic respondents were wary of them, with 80 percent saying they’d do more harm than good.

That suggests it may be even more essential for Shapiro to shore up his position for his base, though the poll had him leading 59 percent to Garrity’s 34 percent.

Ohio Senate race

In the battle for Ohio’s Senate seat, data centers are both “the new ingredient (and the new problem),” according to a leaked National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) memo.

Republican incumbent Jon Husted and Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown, who’s fighting to win back his former seat, “are in a dead heat,” the NRSC warned in August. And data centers, the group added, “are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck.”

As the NRSC identified, Brown has made his opposition to data centers a central tenet of his campaign, labeling Husted “the face of data centers” in the state. Brown has hammered Husted over his past support for data centers as lieutenant governor, where he helped install tax breaks.

Husted has said he believes local communities should be able to decide whether to bring in data centers, and that some may find the revenue useful.

“If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice”

At least as of August, the NRSC still believed voters favored that approach over sweeping bans but acknowledged that current perception is negative. The group warned that losing the Ohio Senate seat could endanger future support for data centers. “If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice - and they will not go near the next one,” the memo says.

Husted introduced the Ratepayer Protection Act, which would require large load customers like data centers to cover their own energy costs and the infrastructure upgrades needed to accommodate them. The bill passed the House and was seen as a potential life raft for Husted, but narrowly failed to pass the Senate, even with a handful of Democrats voting in favor.

The Cook Political Report rates the race as a toss-up, and a RealClear Polling average of recent surveys shows Brown with a slight edge.

Michigan Senate race

Data centers are a hot topic across two key races in Michigan with razor-thin margins. The state is handling dozens of new data center proposals, and both candidates for Michigan’s open Senate seat support a moratorium.

Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers supports a one-year pause but opposes a federal ban, while Democratic candidate and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed says there should be “no more data centers until we can do it safely and with federal protections.”

Rogers’ moratorium support came days after The Lever reported on his investments that reportedly stand to gain from the buildout.

El-Sayed put his stake in the ground on data centers relatively early, compared to other Democrats across the country. In February, Politico wrote that “underdogs” like El-Sayed were centering data centers in their primary campaigns, raising what’s now a common topic in campaign ads.

El-Sayed is also now locked in what the Cook Political Report rates as a dead heat with Rogers, in a race that could determine the balance of power in Congress. Rogers and El-Sayed are competing for a seat currently held by Democrat Gary Peters, who isn’t seeking another term.

In another toss-up race, Democratic organizer William Lawrence is challenging Republican incumbent Tom Barrett for his House seat. Lawrence called for a year-long federal moratorium on new data center construction during his primary campaign, and when he won the nomination, his supporters reportedly chanted, “data centers lost.”

In the general election, data centers have continued to be a central theme. Barrett introduced two bills this summer that would strengthen local decision-making on data center development and bar federal lawmakers from signing non-disclosure agreements about data centers. Lawrence’s data center plan includes:

• environmental standards
• worker protections
• “zoning buffers” for data center development

Wisconsin gubernatorial race

Wisconsin is another state where both gubernatorial candidates have backed away from previous support for data centers, but neither has gone as far as to call for a moratorium.

Democratic nominee and Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley, for example, set himself apart from his progressive primary opponent Francesca Hong by declining to oppose a development moratorium that she supported.

Rep. Tom Tiffany, the Republican nominee, similarly opposes a moratorium in favor of data center guardrails, and voted for a bill allowing faster permitting for data center projects. But Tiffany has still tried to label his opponent as “data center David Crowley,” pointing to past comments he made saying the state shouldn’t “automatically roll back all data center tax incentives.”