US voters sided against AI data centres in all but one of 41 local ballot measures on Tuesday. Democrats who campaigned against the build-out also won the governor’s races in Texas, Ohio and Georgia.
The measures were spread across 10 states, according to Ballotpedia figures and results gathered by CNBC. Ohio held 21 of them. The one exception was Harwood, North Dakota, where voters rejected an added review of industrial projects, data centres included.
Piqua, an Ohio city of 20,000, is where Meta plans a $1bn data centre of up to 1.4GW. Residents voted to recall the mayor and two city commissioners who backed it, Fortune reported. Edgewater, Florida, voted to write a data centre ban into its city charter, according to Semafor.
An NBC News exit poll found that 76% of voters would oppose a new data centre in their community. Some 56% said AI and data centres were a crucial or major factor in their vote for Congress. Earlier polls had shown Iowa and Ohio voters putting AI safety ahead of the AI race.
“The revolt against data centers was one of the top issues of the 2026 election. And in a few years we will look back on it as just the early tremor of a much bigger AI earthquake upending American politics.” Rep. Greg Casar, chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus
Texas and Ohio
Texas was the biggest prize. Gina Hinojosa unseated Governor Greg Abbott after blaming him for the speed of the build-out, CNBC reported. She campaigned on a data centre moratorium, Axios reported. It would last until the state passes laws on water, electricity, air and property rights. The legislative session that could pass them ends in mid-2027.
Abbott had already told the state’s environmental regulator to halt data centre permits on 21 September, MIT Technology Review reported. Sites under construction include the 1,820MW Stargate Frontier in Shackelford County. Another is Nexus Hubbard, a 6,400MW site meant mostly to serve Anthropic. Local officials and construction unions may resist a statewide freeze, the magazine added.
Goldman Sachs chief economist Jan Hatzius put a number on the exposure in a note on Wednesday, Business Insider reported.
“The states where Democrats are likely to further restrict data centers account for roughly 45% of planned US data center capacity, with Texas alone accounting for roughly 25%.” Jan Hatzius, Goldman Sachs
In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown ousted Senator Jon Husted after casting him as “the face of data centers”. Governor-elect Amy Acton backs a “conditional moratorium”, according to CNBC. Data centres would have to cover all of their utility costs and build only with union labour. Ohio is home to the PORTS-Pike campus, where OpenAI has secured 8GW of computing capacity.
The industry’s answer
The largest companies had started offering more before the vote. In October, Amazon pledged more than $1bn over five years to communities that host its data centres. In January, Microsoft promised to cover its sites’ grid costs and stop seeking local tax breaks, Fortune reported. On Monday, OpenAI’s Chris Lehane warned Democrats against backing a ban in a memo.
Demand has not eased. Big Tech has committed more than $3 trillion to the build-out. On last week’s results call, Amazon’s chief executive said customers take new capacity almost as fast as it arrives.
“We’re installing an AI accelerator about every 14 seconds, and almost as fast as we install capacity, customers are gobbling it up.” Andy Jassy, Amazon
Baron Fung of research firm Dell’Oro Group told Fortune that progress would continue, at “two or three steps forward, one step back”.
Investors split along company size. Amazon rose 8% and Microsoft 4% during Wednesday’s trading, CNBC reported. CoreWeave, which rents out AI computing power, fell 10%. Needham analyst Laura Martin wrote that higher regulatory barriers “entrench incumbents”.
What comes next
Democrats take control of Congress in January, but without the two-thirds majorities needed to override a presidential veto. Two bills now have better odds, TechCrunch reported. Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez want a nationwide moratorium on new data centres. Senator Martin Heinrich’s GRID Savings Act would stop communities paying for grid upgrades.
Democrats will also be able to call tech executives to testify.
“They are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing.” Senator Ed Markey, on X
Elon Musk spent a record $474M backing Republicans and lost both of Texas’s marquee races. He offered his own answer.
“Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now.” Elon Musk, on X