Election night delivered a blow to the AI buildout. Of 41 data center ballot measures across 10 states, voters sided against the industry in every contest with results available Wednesday, except one in Harwood, North Dakota. Ohio alone had 21 of them. The backlash also shaped bigger races: Democrat Sherrod Brown ousted Sen. Jon Husted after calling him “the face of data centers,” and Gina Hinojosa unseated Texas Gov. Greg Abbott after blaming him for the rapid buildout. In a CNBC poll, 56% of voters said data centers were a crucial or major factor in their vote.
That spells trouble for projects like OpenAI’s planned 8-gigawatt campus in Ohio, which could cost more than $500 billion. Ohio’s new Democratic governor, Amy Acton, supports a “conditional moratorium” on data centers. The timing is bad for tech, since AI stocks were already sliding in October over interest rate and overspending worries. Elon Musk, the cycle’s biggest donor at $474 million or more, lost both of Texas’ marquee races.
Democrats are already pushing for accountability. Rep. Greg Casar called for AI CEOs to testify under oath, while Rep. Robert Garcia, the likely next House Oversight chair, simply told them to “lawyer up.”
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