Illustration: Seen from far away at dusk, a huge windowless data center sits beside empty farmland, its rows of cooling fans humming under a few lit lamps while a lone roadside sign stands crooked in the foreground.

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Data center backlash shapes US midterm races and rattles stocks

Opposition to AI data centers is growing in the United States. It featured in winning campaigns in Texas, Ohio and Georgia and is tied to a stock market drop.

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Opposition to AI data centers, the large warehouses of servers that power artificial intelligence, played a role in the US midterm elections. Rules for data centers were not on most ballots. Still, hard-line stances against them were part of many campaign platforms.

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Democrats who ended long Republican control of the governorships in Texas, Ohio and Georgia ran on such positions. All three states are major data center hot spots.

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The headlines on the story describe the projects as unpopular yet a key driver of economic growth. They also link the backlash to a stock market swing and to expectations of tougher regulation ahead.

Background

Data centers are described as a key motor of US economic growth, even as public opposition rises.

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