Populist opposition to massive data centers fueling the artificial intelligence boom is scrambling up the 2026 midterms, cutting across ideological lines.
Americans from the urban cores to rural outskirts are objecting to these facilities, which house the servers and networking equipment used for AI and other digital services.
A Gallup survey released earlier this year found roughly 71% of U.S. adults oppose building them in their area with barely one-quarter favoring the projects, spurring a noticeable pivot from elected leaders.
Chief among them is Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, who issued new directives ending certain tax incentives, curtailing water and energy consumption and guidelines that tech companies must help lower electricity
costs.
The order will temporarily halt about 1,800 data center development in Texas.
"I established guidelines (and) guardrails to protect Texas communities," Abott said, in an August post on X. "These guidelines are now the universally applied standard in Texas."
Abbot’s sudden shift came less than a year after the 68-year-old governor, who is facing reelection this year, praised Google for a $40 billion data center investment into the state. He said it would make the Lone Star State an “epicenter of AI development.
The change in tone also coincided with Democratic gubernatorial candidate Gina Hinojosa pounding Abbot for letting tech companies into the state with little oversight.
"I'm calling on Greg Abbott to issue a moratorium on any new data centers with an emergency executive order to do so," Hinojosa a state lawmaker, said during a virtual press conference in July.
"He has the sole power to do it," she added. "That moratorium should stand until the legislature can convene and make sure any data center being built is done so by American union labor that is licensed. We also want local control of the work."
Swing state candidates rethinking data center support
Across the country data center critics have expressed fury at public officials about the strain on water and electricity resources but also the disruption to communities with noise and pollution.
Polling by Gallup found the effect on resources was the leading reason for opposition, with 50% of respondents mentioning environmental concerns.
Opposition also cuts across every major demographic, including party affiliation, the survey found, but with Democrats at 56% strongly opposed versus Republicans at 39%. Independent voters sat at 48%, Gallup found.
That has spurred a sprint by Democratic and Republican candidates running this year who appear to be recalibrating their positions on data centers as states and local governments rush to come up with new rules and regulations.
Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a rumored 2028 presidential hopeful on the Democratic side, signed an executive order Aug. 18 requiring local approval before any state grants are awarded to data center developers.
He had previously cast the telecommunication facilities as a major economic project that would "lead on innovation," back in May.
"I'm putting these developers on notice and letting them know that we will not let them bully Pennsylvanians, disregard our constitutional right to clean air and pure water, and drive up our utility bills," Shapiro said in a post on X.
In the Wisconsin race for governor between Democrat David Crowley and Republican Tom Tiffany, both are looking to leverage the controversial construction boom against their opponent.
Tiffany blitzed the contest with seven figures worth of ads describing his rival as "Data Center David Crowley" hoping to build a wedge. During the Democratic primary, Crowley's foe, state Rep. Francesca Hong, a democratic socialist, was the only candidate who called for a moratorium on construction of new data centers in the Badger State.
In response to the GOP attacks, Crowley has spotlighted Tiffany's voting record in Congress that sought to make it easier to build projects like data centers. The two oppose statewide moratoriums but both say they want stricter regulations on these developments moving forward.
'Anchor': Trump, GOP at odds over data centers as Dems sharpen attacks
The populist tidal wave over building data centers has yet to reach the shores of the White House, where President Donald Trump defended their construction as a "cash cow" for states that embrace them.
"All of this Income, and other benefits, will be going to red States, and some blue, where data centers are sought as cash cows, with lower taxes and record setting jobs," Trump wrote in a July 15 Truth Social post.
Trump's sentiments echo the feelings of industry leaders who tout the technology's revolutionary capabilities that they argue will power growth. Among those who support fueling AI with these facilities, about two-thirds cite the local economic benefits, according to the Gallup survey.
But the president's support for data centers is at odds with the advice GOP candidates seeking election this year are being given.
In an Aug. 18 memo, the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which serves as the campaign arm for GOP contenders, noted that the data center backlash is hurting incumbent Jon Husted, of Ohio, in his closely watched bid against former Sen. Sherrod Brown.
"More than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted's neck," the memo said. "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."
The memo dropped almost two weeks after Brown, who once applauded an Amazon data center, released a 30-second spot claiming Husted "force fed" the facilities in Ohio, which is home to more than 200 existing or in-development data centers, according to Data Center Map.
As lieutenant governor, Husted championed data center projects and called Ohio the "tech capital of the Midwest." Now, he contends data centers should be a local decision and introduced federal legislation that aims to ensure companies pay for their electricity.Republican strategists in the memo said data centers are an "anchor" that has become an effective messaging strategy for Democrats.
"Campaigns or party committees can not fix the toxic brand of an entire segment of the economy," the NRSC memo said. "The companies that need these projects built have to fix how Ohioans see them: who benefits, who pays, and why a community should want one. Until that happens, the issue will continue to dominate this race"
Contributing: Joey Garrison, Kristian Jaime, Molly Beck, Haley BeMiller
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Americans' backlash to data centers is scrambling midterm elections
