November 3 midterm results gave Democrats full control of Congress
The election outcome sets up a divided government with Republicans holding the White House. Anger over data centers has emerged as a political force. Democrats now in charge of Congress may impose new limits on where these facilities are built and how much local communities must approve.
Data centers became a ballot issue in several states. An NBC exit poll found more than half of respondents believe AI will do more harm than good. Almost 80% oppose building data centers in their neighbourhoods. Nearly 60% said data centers were a crucial or major factor in their vote. Nadine Smith, president and CEO of the racial justice organisation Color of Change, described Tuesday’s election as a referendum on “who this economy is built for.”
“National security matters,” Smith said. She referred to the common argument that infrastructure is essential for the US to stay ahead in war and its rivalry with China. “And so do the families in South Memphis breathing exhaust from the gas turbines powering an AI supercomputer.” Smith was referring to xAI’s data center in Memphis, Tennessee, which uses gas turbines for power.
Voters in several states pushed back against the AI buildout. Pro-AI super PACs spent millions trying to sway them this midterm. The anti-data center backlash was especially felt in states like Ohio, where OpenAI has eyed a $500 billion data center backed by more than $100 billion in financing from Nvidia. The Ohio county where Meta had planned a 700,000-square-foot facility just passed a ban on data centers. Local communities across the state overwhelmingly voted against data center buildout measures.
Analysts at Morgan Stanley predict Democratic governor-elect Amy Acton will also pose a major risk to Ohio’s data center buildout. Elsewhere, candidates in Texas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, and South Carolina all won seats after taking a stance against the rapid buildout of data centers. “It is clear that money does not buy outcomes,” said Anshi Bhatt, a tech and policy researcher. He added that in modern politics, creating a “local villain” is one way to build campaign momentum.
Likely next steps include more construction moratoriums or requiring data centers to pay for their own power grid upgrades instead of passing those costs on to nearby communities. Goldman Sachs predicts data center construction delays in states like Georgia and Texas because of Democratic gains.
Democratic control of Congress could also improve the odds for bills like the one Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced earlier this year. Any such bill would also face a possible veto. It proposes a nationwide moratorium on new data centers until Congress adds new guardrails and ensures that the buildout does not raise electricity costs, harm the environment, or proceed without community approval.
There are also bills like the GRID Savings Act, proposed by New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich. This would prevent grid infrastructure costs from being passed on to communities during large AI data center buildouts.
The environment is also a major concern. This is especially true at xAI’s data center in Memphis and at the data centers throughout Virginia, known as the world capital of data centers, where gas turbines are used for power. Maia Woluchem, program director at Data & Society, a nonprofit research group, believes changes to energy regulations, land rights, and other environmental policies could affect the data center buildout. She noted this is especially relevant as congressional Democrats look further into the Trump administration’s rollback of certain energy protections, as the New York Times reported they might.
“Regardless of federal action, I could imagine that we will see additional movement at the state and local level, given the momentum that’s been building from the ground up,” Woluchem continued. She cited governor-elect Gina Hinojosa, who supports a statewide moratorium on data centers, as an example. Both Hinojosa and Gov. Greg Abbott called for some limits, but Hinojosa centred much of her campaign on opposing data centers. This is a notable choice in Texas, whose electrical grid has proved vulnerable over the past decade.
But the hard part is still to come. Smith, for example, is now expecting a fight, or even more executive orders, to bypass what Congress is now likely to block. “Even among Democrats, a blanket freeze is contested,” she said. She referred to some Democrats’ worry that a moratorium could slow AI progress and hurt national security.
She also expects AI lobbyists to start calling lawmakers. “Democrats ran on making Big Tech pay,” Smith said. “Our job is to make sure they remember it once the cameras leave.”
The backlash runs deeper than the buildings themselves, which aren’t new. One private equity executive told me recently that people don’t necessarily hate data centers, but rather AI. He said data centers have become a stand-in for people’s fears and anxieties about the technology. “It does look like the results are pointing to a real frustration with tech power at minimum,” Woluchem said. She noted that this is also a bipartisan issue.
For the past month, people have told me they are worried about data centers’ effect on the environment and about their lack of say in whether they’re built.
Amazon, for example, built a data center in Gilroy, California, without many residents knowing, by satisfying a 45-year-old zoning law. Vague or outdated zoning laws, along with requirements that local officials sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) barring them from discussing data center projects, have only fuelled people’s outrage about the buildout. Data centers have also received billions in tax breaks. Although many tech companies have touted the benefits, such as jobs and community programs, for many people, that simply wasn’t enough.
People want to know they still have a say in what happens in their communities. Many also fear that AI buildouts will mainly enrich a few wealthy people while their communities suffer and living costs rise.
“If AI infrastructure is truly a national priority, then the companies building it can afford to pay for their own power, meet clean air standards, disclose what they use, and build with the consent of the people who live next door,” Smith said. “Families should never be subsidizing the richest corporations in history through their utility bills.”
