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By Hugh Cameron
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The nationwide backlash against the AI buildout promises to play a decisive role in a handful of Senate races this year, and could in turn determine who will control Congress for the second half of Donald Trump’s presidency.
Evidence is mixed when it comes to which party voters trust on the issue, though Democrats seem to be maintaining a slight advantage. Recent NBC News polling found that they held a 12-point lead when it came to “dealing with data centers”—32 percent to 20 percent—though 19 percent said both parties were “about the same” and a quarter responded that neither could be trusted. Republicans, however, had a two-point edge on the more general matter of artificial intelligence in a New York Times/Siena poll published last week—within its margin of error.
But among voters, opposition to their construction has emerged as one of the only positions drawing bipartisan support this cycle. In June, 64 percent of respondents told a Reuters/Ipsos survey that they disagreed with constructing data centers at scale and pace, and the latest NBC News poll found that the same share of registered voters would be less likely to support a candidate who backs building these facilities in their community.
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The sleeper issue has become a potentially election-deciding matter, formerly pro-development politicians are now vocal skeptics of an unchecked development push, and campaigns for the House and Senate increasingly read like competitions for who can appear more anti-AI, with Republican strategists telling Newsweek candidates are now “fleeing” from their initial stances on the buildings given alarming levels of local opposition.
“Frankly, any incumbent, Republican or Democrat, should be concerned about being tagged as pro-data center,” political strategist Pete Seat told Newsweek.
“The loudest voices are being heard, and policy is being made with those voices leading the charge," he said, adding that this trend he says will continue “until the pro-development side can marshal a grassroots army of its own.”
Where Data Centers Could Decide Senate Races
Jaymie Scotto Cutaia, founder and CEO of the data center PR firm JSA, told Newsweek that voter concerns about grid capacity, water usage and local community impacts were “resonating with voters across party lines," which in turn "creates an incentive for candidates to adopt increasingly aggressive positions, particularly in closely contested races.”
And veteran GOP strategist John Thomas said that, while not nationally a priority on the same level as immigration and the economy, data centers’ political implications appeared to correlate with the presence and scale of a local buildout.
Given this, Newsweek charted the tight Senate races that are taking place in states with significant numbers of planned data centers.
According to the nonpartisan Cook Political Report’s latest update, seven races are currently considered “toss ups,” with two that “lean Democrat” meaning a total of nine could be considered close. Of these, the power-infrastructure tracking website Cleanview.co shows that eight have at least one planned data center—i.e., formally proposed or documented in records but not yet operational.
This includes closely watched contests like Maine, where the incumbent Republican Susan Collins is taking on the Democrat Troy Jackson, and where three data center projects are currently planned.
Alongside Virginia, Texas is leading the data center development push—with over 300 data centers in the works, per Cleanview. And this has now shown signs of becoming a key attack line in the contest between Democratic State Representative James Talarico and his Republican rival, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
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"Ken Paxton has taken nearly half a million linked to the data center industry,” Talarico said in a recent CBS News interview, in which he called Paxton “bought and paid for” by the industry and bragged that he himself receives no center-linked campaign donations.
And in Ohio, where 155 data centers are currently planned, Senate candidate Sherrod Brown, a Democrat, recently began running ads which hail the incumbent Senator Jon Husted as the “face of data centers”
Republicans ‘Fleeing’ From Data Centers Ahead of Midterms
A memo first published by Axios last month revealed that Republican leadership were concerned that data centers—and the party’s apparent proximity to the industry—were becoming a burden for GOP candidates in the midterms. The memo made specific mention of the Ohio race and Brown’s AI-focused strategy.
“If [Husted] loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice—and they will not go near the next one,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee wrote. “This has become a sleeper issue for the entire election cycle.”
Experts share this sentiment, though they have expressed doubt that either party had yet secured an advantage in painting themselves as less pro-data center.
“I don't think it's a partisan issue,” Douglas Heye, a senior adviser to the Iowa Republican Party, told Newsweek. He pointed to the fact that the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, has been among the most notable buildout skeptics both rhetorically and legislatively in 2026.
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However, Republican political consultant Mike Madrid said that examples like Texas show that Republicans are “fleeing from early support of data centers”—a pivot perhaps delayed by Trump’s overt backing of a rapid and nationwide development push. And the party itself has now tried to cast Democrats as, if not more pro-data center, at least less committed to protecting voters from the cost of these facilities.
“Republicans are building the AI infrastructure America needs while ensuring companies are paying their own way, shielding families from higher utility bills, and safeguarding local water and natural resources,” Natalie Baldassarre, national press secretary for the Republican National Committee, told Newsweek.
An AI Election?
Thomas, managing director at the consulting firm Nestpoint, told Newsweek that Republicans should be concerned about the “framing” of the data center conversation rather than AI infrastructure “in general.”
“The durable position is require certain conditions, not a ban and not a blank check,” he said.
Trump has framed data center development as key to maintaining a lead over China in the “AI race,” as well as an economic boon for the communities that welcome their construction. Those that don’t, he said in August, will end up “backwards and poor”—a sentiment Thomas said candidates should consider toxic if they are to make any inroads with AI-skeptical communities.
“Voters are not asking Washington to surrender the AI race to China. They are asking why their electric bills, water, and grid should subsidize a tech campus they never voted for,” he said. “That is a kitchen-table issue, and kitchen-table issues travel in November.”
Even those at the end of the data center backlash acknowledge that these have been poorly sold to the U.S. public.
“Data centers have become a political flashpoint because their impacts are intensely local, driving home the old adage that all politics are local,” Brad MacAfee, CEO of the energy infrastructure PR firm KAOH, told Newsweek.
“When our politicians mischaracterize rural communities as ‘backwards and poor’ for asking legitimate questions about their power bills, water, land and infrastructure, it only reinforces that divide,” he said.
And the traction that anti-data center rhetoric has gained leading into this year’s elections could shape not only the way America votes in November, but also help chart the country’s AI course in 2027 and beyond.
“If data centers prove decisive in several races, elected officials in both parties will take notice,” Cutaia told Newsweek.
“It would not necessarily stop the AI buildout, but it could slow it, increase development costs and shift investment toward communities and states with clearer regulatory frameworks and stronger public support.”
Longer term, both said they imagined a middle ground could be reached between the “build everything” and “build nothing” camps, especially if current political scrutiny translates into a push for responsible development that takes stock of communities’ fears and needs.
As it stands, however, questions over the environmental and financial cost of powering these buildings mean few voters want to live near them—and that there are fewer politicians now willing to stand behind them.
“There’s no constituency for future AI data centers,” said Madrid. “If the politics change the politicians will scramble to catch up.
“But at the moment no one wants to touch them.”
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Daniel Orton and Emma Lee-Sang
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