The boom in artificial intelligence data centers encountered resistance on election night, which further exacerbated the complex situation faced by the technology industry's unprecedented expansion plans.
According to Ballotpedia, on Tuesday, 41 local voting proposals from 10 states were put to a vote, with the content focusing on restricting data center construction in various ways.
According to the analysis of Ballotpedia and the additional results summarized by CNBC on Wednesday, voters took a stance against the data centers on all proposals, except for one proposal in Harwood, North Dakota.
The city of Harwood voted against an amendment to a charter rule. The amendment originally required additional review before the municipal government approved industrial development projects, including data centers.
In Ohio, Republican Senator Jon Hesterd ( Jon Husted ) was defeated by Democrat Sherrod Brown ( Sherrod Brown ). During the campaign, Brown portrayed the incumbent senator as a "spokesperson for data centers." According to Ballotpedia, there were 21 local proposals in Ohio that went to a vote.
This "Buckeye State," which was rated as "America's Best Business State" in 2026 by CNBC, has become a key battleground for this issue.
OpenAI announced in August that it has obtained 8 gigawatts of computing power capacity at PORTS - Pike Technology Campus in Ohio. This data center park is the largest AI data center park planned globally. According to the project website, the construction of the first phase is scheduled to begin this year, with production expected to be launched in phases starting from 2028.
SoftBank and SB Energy are collaborating with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop this data center campus in Ohio. SoftBank is an important investor in OpenAI, and the two companies also announced earlier this year plans to invest $1 billion in SB Energy.
Nvidia also provides support for this project. The total cost of this project may exceed 500 billion US dollars.
The Ohio governor's residence also "turned blue." Democrat and physician Amy Akton (Amy Acton) defeated Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy (Vivek Ramaswamy). Akton supports a "conditional suspension" of data centers to ensure they bear 100% of the utility costs and that they are "built only with union workers."
Rebound in front of the ballot box
Before the election, AI transactions showed signs of fatigue on Wall Street. Due to concerns about rising interest rates and excessive spending, chip manufacturers, neoclouds, and other companies related to data centers were sold off in October.
Ultra-large cloud service providers – Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft, and Meta – all invest tens of billions of dollars each year in building AI infrastructure to meet what they describe as “insatiable demands.” Except for Microsoft, the other companies have turned negative in cash flow during this process.
Making data center projects truly a reality may have just become more difficult.
According to Ballotpedia, communities in California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, Nevada, and Wisconsin also went to polling stations to express their opinions on this issue. Data centers are an important factor that influences voters' decisions when casting ballots at all levels of elections.
In the CNBC voter survey, 56% of voters stated that data centers were an important or key factor in their decision to vote, with Democratic voters placing more emphasis on this issue than Republican voters.
Democrats who advocated for a pause or regulation of new projects during the campaign won key races in Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia, and Texas. Texas is expected to become the world's largest data center market by 2030.
In one of the Democratic Party’s most important victories that night, Gina Hinochosa ( Gina Hinojosa ) defeated Governor Greg Abbott ( Greg Abbott ). She had previously accused this incumbent Republican governor of promoting the rapid expansion of Texas’ data centers and putting the interests of the tech industry above those of local communities.
Silicon Valley has invested a record amount of money to influence the midterms in 2026, with the Republican Party holding a clear advantage among the largest donors. According to an analysis of records from the Federal Election Commission by CNBC, 14 out of the 20 largest donor groups have almost exclusively supported the Republican Party. Cryptocurrencies, AI, and online gambling stakeholders combined have invested over $377 million.
Elon Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars during this electoral cycle, but overall, the results were minimal.
Elon Musk posted on X, saying: "It now seems that data centers in space are quite attractive."
The results from Texas seem to be a warning sign for the entire AI industry.
AI Accountability
Within hours of the end of the voting, Democrats began to call for AI executives to testify after taking the oath.
One of the first to speak out on this issue was Gregg Cassar ( Greg Casar ), a Democratic representative from Texas, who also serves as the chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
After the Democratic Party was expected to win the House of Representatives, Kassar issued a statement saying: "The majority of Democrats in the House of Representatives must make it a top priority to protect Americans' jobs, freedoms, and lives from the harm caused by AI billionaires. The CEO of AI company should be summoned to testify after taking an oath."
Kasal also accused Republicans of being 'bought and corrupted by AI billionaires', stating that voters have rejected such influence, and warned Democrats that 'they should hold them accountable, rather than cashing their checks'.
He said that this struggle surrounding data centers is just the beginning.
"Rebellion against data centers is one of the top issues in the 2026 elections," he said, "In a few years, we will look back and realize that this was just the early tremors of a much larger AI earthquake that will reshape American politics."
—— CNBC's Ashley Capoot has contributed to this article.
View:Data center rebound raises doubts from the outside world about the growth of US AI capital expenditure
