Midterm results turn data centres into a political fault line

The mood among voters looks distinctly wary. An NBC exit poll found more than half of respondents think AI will do more harm than good, almost 80% oppose data centres in their neighbourhoods, and nearly 60% said data centres were a crucial or major factor in their vote. That resistance held even as pro-AI super PACs spent millions trying to sway the result.

Ohio saw some of the sharpest pushback: the county where Meta had planned a 700,000-square-foot facility just passed a ban on data centres, and local communities across the state overwhelmingly voted against buildout measures. Analysts at Morgan Stanley see Democratic governor-elect Amy Acton as a major risk to Ohio's buildout, while Goldman Sachs predicts construction delays in states such as Georgia and Texas because of Democratic gains.

Likely next steps include more construction moratoriums and rules requiring data centres to pay for their own power grid upgrades rather than passing those costs to nearby communities. Democratic control of Congress could improve the odds for a Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez bill proposing a nationwide moratorium on new data centres until guardrails exist, though any such bill faces a possible veto. A separate proposal, the GRID Savings Act from Sen. Martin Heinrich, would stop grid infrastructure costs being passed on to communities during large AI buildouts.

Not everyone expects legislation to settle it. Nadine Smith of Color of Change is anticipating a fight, or even executive orders to bypass what Congress blocks, and notes that even among Democrats a blanket freeze is contested, with some worried a moratorium could slow AI progress and hurt national security. Maia Woluchem of Data & Society expects continued movement at state and local level regardless of federal action.