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Datacenters were on the ballot. US voters rejected them
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- DeepHorus
Datacenters were among the biggest losers in Tuesday’s US midterms. Voters in at least 40 jurisdictions across 10 states rejected or restricted new facilities that power artificial intelligence and online services. The results delivered a rebuke to an industry increasingly associated with AI wealth and resource use.
In Ohio, at least 14 municipalities passed bans or restrictions, including Sunbury, where Amazon proposed a $2 million project. Eight Maine municipalities approved temporary moratoriums. In Emporio, Kansas, voters backed a ban on high-impact datacenters after a 1,000-acre gigawatt-scale project was proposed.
Nearly every datacenter moratorium on the ballot passed, dozens in total. The one notable exception was Hardwood, North Dakota, a city of fewer than 1,000 people, which voted down restrictions. The pattern showed opposition across jurisdictions and party lines.
Where datacenters were not on the ballot, opponents won. Texas Democrat Gina Hinojosa won a historic governorship race and pledged moratoriums, restrictions and community input. Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia and Amy Acton in Ohio also promised moratoria on large datacenters.
Anti-datacenter sentiment became bipartisan. In May, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis signed strict regulations on large-scale facilities. Tuesday’s results cemented opposition to compute hubs that critics treat as symbols of AI-industry wealth and resource extraction.
Elon Musk, who spent over $400 million backing conservative candidates, posted on X: “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.” Analyst Dan Ives said the results signal a slowdown in datacenter buildout. He warned that Democratic control, especially of the Senate, will create major hurdles for AI and tech legislation in Washington.
Ives said Texas, expected to supply 25% to 30% of datacenter gigawatts and capacity, was the night’s main worry for tech investors. He called Hinojosa a “known anti-datacenter politician.” The results suggest future projects will face tougher local reviews and political scrutiny.
