American Voters Overwhelmingly Reject AI Data Centers

In the midterm elections, data center-related proposals appeared on ballots in more than 40 races across 13 states, and voters opposed them in 38 and counting, with six cities banning data centers outright and 12 capping their megawatt draw. Candidates who backed data centers lost nationwide, including Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, who lost his bid for a fourth term by more than 700,000 votes to Gina Hinojosa, who made his data center stance central to her campaign. Local Progress's Michael Whitesides said the results show people don't see the promised benefits of data centers and are seeing higher costs, while Elon Musk posted on X that "Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now."