> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://theainewsfiles.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Data centre backlash is reshaping US midterm races for both parties - URL: https://theainewsfiles.com/data-centre-backlash-us-midterm-races/ - Published: 2026-10-27T14:48:52.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-27T14:48:52.000Z - Description: Candidates in both parties are changing their tone on data centres. A CNBC survey found 63% of registered voters oppose one within 10 miles of their home. - Author: J E Cowie - Tags: News Data centres, the large facilities that house the computing hardware behind AI, have become a live issue in the 2026 US midterm campaigns. The Verge's Lauren Feiner, writing on 27 October, called them "one issue that seems to activate all kinds of voters", with local opposition becoming a major issue in many congressional and gubernatorial races. Her subhead put the contest this way: some races come down to "people who hate data centers" versus "people who hate them even more." This piece draws on The Verge's race-by-race survey, a CNBC poll, a Republican Senate committee memo and reporting from States Newsroom. Poll findings are the pollsters' own. ## What the polls say ![the US Capitol building in Washington, DC, seen from the front](https://theainewsfiles.com/content/images/2026/10/shot2_the-us-capitol-building-in-washington-dc.jpg) The US Capitol, Washington, DC. The midterm elections will decide the make-up of Congress. A CNBC All-America Economic Survey, published on 24 October, put numbers on the mood. It was conducted on 14 to 18 October by Hart Research Associates and Public Opinion Strategies, among 1,000 registered voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3.1 percentage points. CNBC reported that: - 63% oppose an AI data centre within 10 miles of their home, and 13% support one. That question went to a half-sample of roughly 500 voters, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4.38 points. - 80% of Democrats oppose a nearby facility and 4% support one. Among all Republican and Republican-leaning voters, 24% say they would support one. - 32% trust Democrats to handle data centre expansion, against 24% for Republicans. Another 27% said neither party would do better. - 52% want advanced AI development paused until Congress passes safety regulations, against 32% who favour moving ahead to keep pace with China. A separate figure sits close to the first. Reporting by States Newsroom cited a late-August YouGov and The Economist poll in which 63% of American adults said they did not want a data centre built in their community. That is a different poll, of a different group, with different wording from CNBC's. States Newsroom also cited Cleanview's project tracker: 1,394 data centres operating in the US, with a combined capacity of 64,764 megawatts. As of October, it listed 2,841 more planned, which would add 413,152 megawatts. ## Ohio: a memo about "the anchor" In Ohio, a memo dated 18 August from the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) addressed the issue directly. The Verge describes the memo as leaked. It said Republican Senator Jon Husted and Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown were "in a dead heat", that Brown had made opposition to data centres the centrepiece of his campaign, and that data centres were "the anchor hanging around Husted's neck." The memo went further: "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." It also said the current public perception of data centres is negative, and argued that voters prefer a candidate who wants data centres built only where a local vote approves them and who makes them pay for their own power and water. CNBC noted that Husted, as Ohio's lieutenant governor in 2024, helped announce a $10 billion Amazon Web Services expansion. He is now promoting legislation to make large facilities cover their own grid and generation costs. The Verge reports that the bill passed the House but narrowly failed in the Senate. States Newsroom reports that Husted blamed Senate Democrats for blocking a procedural vote in late September. It also reports that some Democratic senators voted for the measure. The Verge says Cook Political Report rates the race a toss-up. ## Candidates changing course The Verge describes candidates "distancing themselves" from data centres, with how far they will go varying. Many Democrats seem likelier to back a pause on development, but not all; some Republicans have stressed local control, while others say a pause is what the moment needs. - **Texas.** The Verge reports that Republican Governor Greg Abbott's office celebrated a $40 billion Google investment last year, including three new data centre campuses. In August 2026 he announced an audit that could slow new facilities connecting to the grid. CNBC reports that he has since halted data centre permits pending grid and water reviews and called for ending state tax incentives. His Democratic challenger, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, has called for a statewide moratorium. In the Senate race, Attorney General Ken Paxton, the Republican, and Democrat James Talarico, a state representative, have each put forward data centre plans. The Verge says both want data centres to bear their own energy infrastructure costs. Cook rates the governor's race as leaning Republican and the Senate race a toss-up. - **Florida.** Democrat David Jolly has pledged a one-year ban on hyperscale data centres on his first day in office. Republican Byron Donalds, who the Verge says previously supported data centre development, now backs requiring developers to fund the energy and water they use, and opponents have branded him "Data Center Donalds". An October NBC6/Telemundo poll found 45% of likely voters opposed to data centres in Florida and 38% in favour, with 59% opposed in their own communities. It had Donalds ahead 48% to 41%, with a margin of error of plus or minus 4 points. - **Pennsylvania.** The Verge reports that Democratic Governor Josh Shapiro announced a $20 billion Amazon investment last year, then signed an executive order in August barring non-disclosure agreements for data centre developers and taking AI data centre proposals off the fast track. His Republican challenger, state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, who said last year that rural parts of the state would be "perfect places to put data centers", now supports a pause of no more than three years, according to Spotlight PA. A Quinnipiac poll in early October found 64% of likely voters thought AI data centres in the state would do more harm than good. - **Michigan.** The Verge says both Senate candidates, Republican Mike Rogers and Democrat Abdul El-Sayed, support a moratorium, with Rogers favouring a one-year pause while opposing a federal ban. Cook rates the race a dead heat. - **Arizona.** The split runs within parties. The Verge reports that Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes supports a statewide pause while Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs opposes one. - **Georgia.** At a recent debate, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms, who supports a pause, said Republican Rick Jackson "cannot be trusted" on data centres because of his investment in a Texas data centre. Jackson said Bottoms approved, and gave tax breaks to, multiple data centres as Atlanta's mayor. Bottoms denied this, saying she had approved only one data centre, which was not hyperscale and was not near a residential area, according to the Verge. The Verge also covers Wisconsin, Nevada and Iowa, where candidates have set out positions on tax breaks, moratoriums and costs. ## Money and the White House The Verge reports that [tech money is flowing](https://theainewsfiles.com/openai-anthropic-nvidia-record-lobbying-quarter-q3-2026/) into these races. Leading the Future, a super PAC backed by Marc Andreessen and OpenAI President Greg Brockman, has spent $45 million in a year. Public First Action, an AI-industry-backed political group (which the Verge specifically ties to Anthropic) that says it supports AI safeguards, says it has raised $80 million. The Verge says both groups have funded Democratic and Republican-aligned groups. A newer super PAC, Tomorrow Together, launched $4 million in ads for battleground House races. Brad Carson, a former Democratic congressman and co-founder of Public First Action PAC, told CNBC: "Many people are annoyed by these data centers." The industry disputes the framing. Dan Diorio of the Data Center Coalition told CNBC that "The data center industry provides significant, tangible benefits", pointing to jobs, investment and tax revenue. President Trump's tone has shifted. In a late-August Truth Social post, he called opponents of data centre developments "backwards and poor", States Newsroom reported. In a later Truth Social post, reported by CNBC on 24 October, he said developers should pay host communities a financial "dividend" and generate their own power. States Newsroom quotes the post as saying data centres "are mandated by me to make their own electricity", and calls it a pivot from the August post. ## What to take from it In many of the states in these accounts, a candidate has moved. Shapiro, Abbott, Husted, Donalds and Garrity are all described as having changed tone, with Garrity's and Donalds's earlier support, and Shapiro's and Abbott's earlier announcements, cited by their opponents. The Verge says the outcomes of the Texas races remain highly uncertain. Darrell West of the Brookings Institution told States Newsroom: "The issue has blown up over the last year." Whether the issue decides any race is a separate question from whether candidates fear it, and the data-centre questions in the polls above measure attitudes, not votes. The NRSC memo itself warned that what happens in Ohio may shape how politicians elsewhere treat future projects. ## Sources CNBC (2026) 'Trump is pushing a massive AI buildout. His own voters are wary of what comes with it', CNBC, 24 October 2026, available at: [https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/24/trump-ai-data-centers-voter-backlash-midterms.html](https://www.cnbc.com/2026/10/24/trump-ai-data-centers-voter-backlash-midterms.html?ref=theainewsfiles.com) (Accessed: 27 October 2026). Feiner, L. (2026) 'Data center backlash is uniting America', The Verge, 27 October 2026, available at: [https://www.theverge.com/policy/1019152/data-centers-midterm-elections](https://www.theverge.com/policy/1019152/data-centers-midterm-elections?ref=theainewsfiles.com) (Accessed: 27 October 2026). Murray, A. (2026) ''We don't want it': Voter backlash against data centers consumes midterm elections', KOTA (States Newsroom), 27 October 2026, available at: [https://www.kotatv.com/2026/10/27/we-dont-want-it-voter-backlash-against-data-centers-consumes-midterm-elections/](https://www.kotatv.com/2026/10/27/we-dont-want-it-voter-backlash-against-data-centers-consumes-midterm-elections/?ref=theainewsfiles.com) (Accessed: 27 October 2026). NRSC (2026) 'Memorandum: Ohio Data Center Risk', NRSC, 18 August 2026, available at: [https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/144da04521b9d484/880f6a68-full.pdf](https://static01.nyt.com/newsgraphics/documenttools/144da04521b9d484/880f6a68-full.pdf?ref=theainewsfiles.com) (Accessed: 27 October 2026). ## Picture credits - Top picture: A large data centre building. Illustrative of the facilities at the centre of the campaign arguments. Photo: Rsparks3, via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Data%5Fcenter%5Froof.jpg?ref=theainewsfiles.com) ([CC0](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/?ref=theainewsfiles.com)) - The US Capitol, Washington, DC. The midterm elections will decide the make-up of Congress. Photo: Noclip, via [Wikimedia Commons](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Capitol%5FBuilding%5FFull%5FView.jpg?ref=theainewsfiles.com) (public domain)