Voters Rebuff Data Centers in Every Ballot Measure Except One During the 2026 Midterms
- On Tuesday, voters across nine states approved measures to restrict or ban new data centers, with at least 29 jurisdictions passing these limits according to The Washington Post.
- Democrats leveraged voter frustration with Big Tech, running anti-data center campaigns in more than 130 federal and gubernatorial races citing growing concerns over electricity and water consumption.
- Ohio served as a focal point with 41 measures on ballots across 10 states, while in Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott after campaigning for a moratorium.
- Goldman Sachs economists project these Democratic victories will likely trigger short-term moratoria, potentially affecting about 45% of planned US data center capacity expansion.
- Tech companies are attempting to rebrand data centers as 'compute campuses' with mixed results, Semafor's Ashley Gold reported, though potential moratoriums lasting over six months could delay projects not yet in construction.
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49 Articles
Voters reject data centers in nearly 50 ballot initiatives during midterms in major setback to AI bigwigs
Voters overwhelmingly rejected AI data centers on election night – dealing a major setback to Elon Musk and other tech bigwigs pushing a massive buildout.
Data Centers Were Another Big Loser on Tuesday
There was a backlash against data centers as well as Republicans in the midterm elections. There were 41 local ballot measures in 10 states on Tuesday seeking to restrict the construction of data centers in various ways, and voters sided against data centers everywhere except Harwood, North Dakota, CNBC reports....
Voters from at least 33 communities passed restrictions on artificial intelligence data centers, and Ohio, Texas, and Georgia elected governors who promised to stop them.
Voters across the country reject data centers • Rhode Island Current
In local elections across the country, Americans voted overwhelmingly to restrict the buildout of data centers in their communities. Late Tuesday evening, 33 ballot measures to restrict data centers were passed by voters or were leading in ongoing vote counts, according to the tracking website Data Centers on the Ballot. Roughly a dozen similar measures […]
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