Democrats won control of Congress and voters rejected data center measures in nearly every local contest, while three new Democratic governors promised to restrict or pause data center construction.
On Tuesday, millions of American voters went to the polls and voted overwhelmingly for Democrats and against AI. The fight against Big Tech is about to come roaring back, and the fight over data centers is looking even harder for the folks trying to build them.
Out of 41 ballot measures nationwide with a question on data centers, Big Tech only scored one win in a Midwestern town with approximately 800 residents. The measures ranged from outright bans and moratoriums to new zoning laws that regulated data centers, along with limitations on size and new rules requiring future voters to decide if data centers can be built. The only win for Big Tech came from the tiny city of Harwood, North Dakota, whose residents rejected a new law that would have required an independent review for data center proposals.
Preliminary results tracked by Redbud Consulting showed voters opposing data-center development in 37 of 38 local contests with complete counts. CNET reported a similar picture with a slightly different tally: voters backed about 40 election-day measures restricting new data centers, and only one result, in Harwood, North Dakota, favored expansion.
The elections of three governors who campaigned on restricting data center development—Gina Hinojosa in Texas, Amy Acton in Ohio, and Keisha Lance Bottoms in Georgia—could be consequential for the AI industry’s future expansion.
Hinojosa has promised to impose a moratorium on data center construction and eliminate subsidies and tax breaks awarded to major data center developers. Governor-elect Amy Acton in Ohio has taken a similar position, calling for a conditional moratorium on new data centers unless developers agree to cover all their utility costs, use union labor, and meet environmental standards. In Georgia, Governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms promised a temporary statewide pause on new data center construction to assess the industry’s impact on electricity bills, communities, and the environment.
The more anti-regulation side of the AI industry — represented at the time by venture-capital firm Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI — was already working to establish its first super PAC, explicitly modeled after a pro-cryptocurrency effort that had spent big in a few races to instill fear in lawmakers who had crossed them. Leading the Future, as the new AI committee was named in August, would commit itself to confronting what its leaders called “a vast force out there that’s looking to slow down AI deployment.”
In response, Carson began to tap those connections to create Public First, a super PAC network that would be a clearinghouse for pro-regulation cash. For Public First, their original goal was to see if they could raise $5 million from those AI safety advocates, Carson said. Then it became $10 million. Then $30 million.
In February, Anthropic decided to get involved with a $20 million donation from its corporate account to Public First’s associated nonprofit — which can’t directly back candidates or engage in electoral politics. In May, Amodei gave his first-ever public seven-figure political donation — of exactly $1 million — to Public First. And in July, Anthropic donated another $20 million.
The pro-AI Leading the Future spent some $8 million against New York State assemblymember Alex Bores, who narrowly lost the Democratic primary in his House race in June. Pro-regulation political groups ultimately spent over $19 million in favor of Bores — swamping LTF’s $8 million. Over $13 million of that pro-Bores money came from Jobs and Democracy PAC, an organization in the Public First umbrella.
According to the CNBC voter poll, 56% of voters called AI and data centers a crucial or major factor in their decision. Of that group, 65% voted for a Democratic candidate for Congress.
While members of soon-to-be Democrat-controlled Congress would need to pass legislation (and potentially overcome a veto by President Trump) to impose new restrictions on data centers, the incoming Democratic governors have more tools at their disposal, including the power to influence permitting, regulation, and tax incentives at the state level, although some actions may require the approval of state legislatures.
In a Wednesday note, longtime tech analyst Dan Ives said though tech companies may now face new obstacles to building out their data center capacity, the Democratic wins could actually be a positive for tech stocks as it will likely force hyperscalers, like Google, Amazon, and Microsoft, to slow down their capital expenditures, which are expected to hit at most $828 billion in 2026.
Sources
This article was drafted with AI assistance and checked against the sources above. Company claims are reported as claims. Cover image is AI-generated.
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