Voters signal opposition to data centers in Tuesday’s elections

A recent NBC News exit poll revealed that 76% of voters would oppose a new data center in their community, with 56% citing AI and data centers as a crucial or major factor in their congressional vote.

Economists at Goldman Sachs anticipate that Democratic victories at state and local levels will likely lead to temporary halts on data center development, potentially impacting roughly 45% of planned US data center capacity expansion.

As of Wednesday morning, analysis by Redbud Consulting showed 33 ballot measures restricting data centers were approved, compared to just one allowing them. A significant number of these votes occurred in Ohio, a key location for OpenAI’s $500 billion Stargate project.

In Ashville, Ohio, residents overwhelmingly rejected a resolution to permit EdgeConneX to build two data centers and a natural gas facility, with 82% of the 1,800 voters casting ballots against the project. Similarly, in Alhambra, California, a measure to ban data centers is projected to pass with 82% approval.

Texas saw a notable political shift, with Gina Hinojosa becoming the state’s first Democratic governor since 1995, defeating incumbent Greg Abbott. Her campaign platform included a pledge to immediately pause data center development. James Talarico, the newly elected Democratic senator, has voiced concerns about the rising cost of living, attributing it in part to data centers, and proposes an “AI dividend” to share profits from AI companies.

Virginia, known as “Data Center Alley” due to its high concentration of data centers, also experienced significant shifts. Senator Mark Warner secured a substantial victory, extending his majority with a 17-point swing compared to the 2024 presidential election. In Loudoun County, home to approximately 250 operational data centers and over 100 planned, Warner received 69% of the vote, marking a 21-point swing compared to 2024 and an 11-point swing from the 2020 Senate election.