Data Centers Lost the Midterms: Voters Rejected AI's Building Boom

Seventy-six percent of voters polled by NBC News on Election Day said they opposed data centers in their communities — the starkest number in a midterm that delivered a stinging blow to a central pillar of the AI industry's expansion plans.

Data center developers now face a more restrictive building environment. Voters across the country elected candidates who favor moratoriums and passed ballot measures that put new obstacles in the way of expansion. Dozens of local communities voted directly to restrict development.

The stakes are straightforward. AI runs on compute, and compute runs on physical buildings that consume enormous amounts of power and water. When those buildings become politically toxic, the industry's growth curve gets harder to sustain.

What did the ballot measures actually do?

Voters faced direct questions about data centers in 45 local ballot measures nationwide. As of Wednesday morning, according to a site compiled by Redbud Consulting, 33 of those will restrict data center development.

The restrictions vary in scope and severity:

• The Town of Wells, Maine, favored a 180-day moratorium on large data centers, backdated to mid-June 2026.
• Several cities in Ohio voted to ban data centers over 25MW.
• The City of El Dorado, Kansas, voted to ban data centers with peak electrical load over 10MW for 10 years.

That is a clear pattern, not a scattering of outliers. When given a direct say, most communities chose to slow or block the industry.

Texas: a statewide moratorium advocate in the governor's office

Democratic state Rep. Gina Hinojosa will take over the governor's seat from Republican incumbent Greg Abbott, marking a major Democratic flip in a state with the second-highest number of planned data centers. Hinojosa supports a statewide moratorium on data center development.

Abbott had taken a more measured approach. He announced a new audit this summer on data centers that could slow new developments from connecting to the state energy grid, but he had previously praised data center expansion in Texas.

In another major upset, Democratic State Rep. James Talarico flipped Texas blue in a landmark Senate victory against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Both Talarico and Paxton wanted to remove some tax exemptions for data centers and make them responsible for their own energy infrastructure-related costs. But Talarico also emphasized the facilities' environmental impact and ensuring they shared their profits with the public, while Paxton's message focused on keeping Chinese tech out of data centers.

The message for developers is hard to miss: even in Texas, the industry's tax and infrastructure privileges are now contested at the top of the ticket.

Florida: Donalds wins, but the race tightened over data centers

Republican congressman Byron Donalds won the governor's seat over Democratic former congressman David Jolly. Donalds opposed an outright ban of data centers. Jolly said he'd bar hyperscalers for a year beginning on day one in office.

In Congress, Donalds introduced the Protecting Ratepayers Act, which would make developers pay for their own energy and water needs. That positions him as a critic of subsidies even while he welcomes the industry itself.

Donalds' win was still closer than expected in a state that's been a Republican stronghold in the Trump era. As of Wednesday morning, NBC News reported that Donalds had exactly 50 percent of the vote, with 99 percent of expected votes counted, while Jolly had 48.7 percent and the rest went to an Independent candidate.

Even the winner here had to engage on data center costs, which tells you where the electorate is.

Ohio: Sherrod Brown beat "the face of data centers"

Democrat Sherrod Brown won back his former Senate seat from Republican incumbent Jon Husted, whom Brown had labeled "the face of data centers."

The National Republican Senatorial Committee warned this summer in a leaked memo that if data centers were blamed for Husted's potential loss, it would make them seem poisonous to future candidates. That memo now reads as prescient.

Husted had earlier helped install data center tax breaks as lieutenant governor, though he more recently introduced the Ratepayer Protection Act in Congress to force large data centers to cover their infrastructure upgrade and energy costs. Brown hammered Husted on the issue throughout the campaign. While he hasn't gone as far as to call for a moratorium, Brown has said that developers shouldn't get tax breaks or a go-ahead without local input.

Michigan: El-Sayed's early bet on a pause paid off

Democrat and former public health official Abdul El-Sayed won the Senate race over Republican former Rep. Mike Rogers. El-Sayed was one of the earliest politicians to stake his position on data centers, and has called for a pause on new developments "until we can do it safely and with federal protections."

Rogers called for a one-year state moratorium this summer, but not a federal ban. In this race, the question wasn't whether to restrain data centers — it was how much and at what level of government.

As of Wednesday morning, NBC News had not yet called a House race between Democratic organizer William Lawrence and Republican incumbent Tom Barrett, but Lawrence held a lead with 92 percent of the vote in. Similar to El-Sayed, Lawrence stated his position on data centers early, calling for a one-year federal moratorium on new developments during his primary campaign. Barrett introduced legislation this summer to bar nondisclosure agreements for data center developments and give locals more control.

Maine: Collins loses, and the state's moratorium fight continues

Democrat and former Maine State Senator Troy Jackson ousted Republican Sen. Susan Collins from her Senate seat. The context matters here: the state legislature passed what would have been the country's first moratorium on data centers, had the governor not vetoed it. Polls show that opposition to data centers among Maine residents remained strong.

Jackson supported a state moratorium on data centers. Collins opposed such a measure but called for more local control and protection for energy ratepayers.

Wisconsin, Nevada and Iowa: no moratoriums, but the subsidies are gone

Democratic Milwaukee County Executive David Crowley won the Wisconsin governor's race over Republican Rep. Tom Tiffany. Neither favored a moratorium, and both have distanced themselves from previous support. Crowley won his primary over progressive opponent Francesca Hong, who supported a moratorium. Both Crowley and Tiffany said they wanted to end state tax subsidies for data centers, though they've accused one another of flip-flopping their stances.

In Nevada, Democratic Attorney General Aaron Ford successfully flipped the governor's seat from incumbent Republican Joe Lombardo, whom he'd branded "data center Joe." Lombardo had previously made supportive comments about data centers, but more recently introduced an executive order making tax incentives contingent on data centers covering power costs and meeting certain environmental standards. Ford previously championed a 2015 data center tax-break bill, but said today's data centers are different from those years ago, and now supports a pause on all tax breaks for new data centers.

In Iowa, Democratic state auditor Rob Sand won the governor's seat over Republican businessman Zach Lahn. Sand did not support a data center moratorium, which Lahn did. But both agreed on ending tax breaks for the developments.

Across all three states, the pro-moratorium position didn't always win. The end of tax breaks, however, now has support from both parties.

Pennsylvania, Georgia and Arizona: guardrails over bans

Democratic incumbent Governor Josh Shapiro held his Pennsylvania seat against Republican challenger and state Treasurer Stacy Garrity. Both toughened their stances against data centers as the race went on, despite previously touting their potential benefits to the state. Shapiro signed an executive order that barred nondisclosure agreements for data center developments and took proposals for AI data centers off the fast track. Garrity has said she supports a development pause of up to three years.

In Georgia, Democrat and former Atlanta Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governor's seat over Republican healthcare executive Rick Jackson. Bottoms favored a moratorium on data centers to review environmental and cost effects, while Jackson preferred to leave decisions up to locals.

In Arizona, Democratic Gov. Katie Hobbs fought off a challenge from Republican Rep. Andy Biggs. Both opposed a moratorium in favor of power and water use standards. Democratic Attorney General Kris Mayes held onto her seat over Republican state legislator Warren Petersen. Mayes took a more hardline view than her Democratic peer, endorsing a state moratorium on data center development. Petersen opposed a moratorium, and said data centers are necessary for technology residents use every day.

What does this mean for the AI industry?

It's hard to draw a direct line from data center backlash to the election of any single candidate. Some races went the other way — Iowa's Rob Sand opposed the moratorium his challenger favored, and Florida's Byron Donalds, who previously lauded development, was elected governor.

But even these winners were forced to engage on data center issues during their campaigns, and will likely face continued pressure to put at least some guardrails in place. In South Carolina, Democratic pediatrician Annie Andrews flipped the Senate seat blue against Republican incumbent Darline Graham, who had taken over the seat after her brother Lindsey Graham died. Andrews supported a two-year data center moratorium, while Graham opposed a pause and got significant support from a super PAC allied with the data center industry — and still lost.

The takeaway is plain: the industry's expansion now has an organized, effective political opposition at every level, from town halls to governor's mansions, and the era of frictionless data center construction is over.