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Data center backlash scrambles US midterm politics / Photo: Brendan Smialowski - AFP
Data center backlash scrambles US midterm politics
The data centers powering America's artificial intelligence boom have become an unlikely target in November's midterm elections, as anger over rising electricity bills and noise turns Democrats -- and a growing number of Republicans -- against Big Tech.
Candidates in at least 21 races across 18 states have aired television advertisements mentioning data centers this cycle, according to marketing data cited by US media, almost evenly divided between both parties.
On the grid serving Senate battleground Ohio, as well as 12 other states, demand from data centers drove up capacity costs by $9.3 billion in a single year, a 174 percent increase, according to an independent market monitor.
Anger over household bills has merged with a broader populist distrust of Silicon Valley, exposing lawmakers who, until recently, were courting the sprawling server farms with tax breaks and promises of jobs and investment.
In Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott has frozen new projects while regulators weigh their impact on power and water supplies. It was Abbott who, not long ago, called his state the "epicenter of AI development."
His Democratic challenger wants a moratorium until lawmakers pass stronger safeguards, and accuses Abbott of putting wealthy interests ahead of ordinary Texans.
In Brazoria -- between Houston and the Gulf Coast -- 44-year-old Melissa Burnett told AFP the serenity of her quiet neighborhood had been shattered by a 17-megawatt center last year that is "like a freight train always coming at you."
"We were not supposed to hear it, nor was it supposed to affect our quality of life, and it's just done the opposite, you know?" she said.
Almost alone among Republicans, President Donald Trump has not moved. He still calls the industry essential to beating China on AI, leaving him at odds with candidates running under his own banner.
- 'Sleeper issue' -
The midwestern former manufacturing hub of Ohio offers perhaps the sharpest test of the politics of data centers.
Sherrod Brown, a Democrat who lost his Senate berth in 2024, is running for the Buckeye State's other seat. Brown has run at least four ads attacking Republican Jon Husted for courting data center investment as lieutenant governor.
They brand Husted "the face of data centers," and Brown has promised to make operators pay the full cost of the power they use.
Senate Republicans have warned that the issue could cost Husted the race. Their campaign arm called data centers a "sleeper issue" and said a defeat blamed on them would chill political support for the industry nationwide.
The same argument is turning up in races that have little else in common: a Republican running for governor in Florida promising to shield families from facilities that push up utility bills; a Pennsylvania Democrat demanding that tech companies cover their own costs; a Wyoming Republican who won a House primary on advertisements attacking Silicon Valley billionaires.
In Michigan, the issue toppled two better-connected Democrats in a primary won by a leftist who said opposition had united committed Republicans, Trump voters, independents and Democrats.
- Both parties turn -
In Wisconsin, Republican gubernatorial nominee Tom Tiffany has taken to calling his Democratic opponent "Data Center David Crowley." Earlier this year Tiffany was praising the technology and voting to speed AI infrastructure through.
Tiffany now wants the state's tax incentives scrapped and the industry more tightly regulated, though he stops short of a ban.
Democratic governors are moving the same way.
New York has imposed a year-long moratorium on new hyperscale facilities, and Pennsylvania now requires developers to cover infrastructure costs and meet tougher standards on water use, hiring and community consultation.
Trump has not moved with them.
"America must remain dominant in the AI race that is the future. I think the American people understand that, and this president certainly does," his spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said on Thursday.
His administration has signed up Google, Microsoft, Meta, Oracle, xAI, OpenAI and Amazon to a voluntary "Ratepayer Protection Pledge."
Under it, the companies undertake not to leave consumers paying for the power plants and grid upgrades their facilities require.
The pledge has not stopped the advertisements.
(K.Jones--TAG)
