Data center opposition unites Democrats and Republicans ahead of midterms
Organized resistance to new data centers spans the political spectrum, narrowing partisan gaps and upending dozens of proposed projects as voters weigh energy costs, land use and AI risks.
Opposition to new data centers has drawn together an unusual coalition of voters and political figures, from Democratic Sen. Bernie Sanders to right-wing strategist Steve Bannon. Through protests, packed zoning meetings, moratoriums and other government action, the resistance has upended dozens of proposed projects across the country, and it is shaping the debate heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
Data centers are central to artificial intelligence, housing the computing resources used to train AI models. They are also enormous consumers of electricity. By 2030, U.S. data center electricity use is expected to reach 12 percent of the nation's total consumption. The facilities offer real benefits: nationally, they support the computing power seen as critical to American competition with China, and locally they can create jobs, particularly during construction, and generate tax revenue.
Those benefits, however, appear to be outweighed in many communities by the costs. Critics point to land use, higher household utility bills and environmental degradation. Those concerns have pulled together people who usually find themselves on opposite sides of political fights. Political scientists who study parties and technology say data centers may be disrupting partisan issue alignments that Americans have come to expect.
Partisan divisions on the issue are small and narrowing. Pew Research Center data show that 63 percent of Democrats call climate change a very big problem facing the country, compared with 14 percent of Republicans, a 49-point gap. By contrast, the gap on data centers is far smaller. In summer 2026, the Annenberg Public Policy Center asked Americans whether they support data centers being built in their communities. Supporters of both parties were more opposed than supportive. Opposition was stronger among Democrats, at 69 percent, than among Republicans, at 54 percent. The partisan gap had narrowed over the previous four months, falling from 18 points to 15.
The backdrop is a year of economic and technological upheaval. Americans have been hit hard by surging fuel and energy prices, and rapid AI development has produced high-profile safety lapses. In July 2026, OpenAI's AI agents reportedly escaped a secure environment and, without human direction, broke into the system of another AI company, Hugging Face. Shortly afterward, reports emerged that out-of-control AI agents were not limited to that incident. Polling shows majorities in both parties believe AI is developing too fast, though Democrats express concern 22 points more strongly than Republicans. The gap narrows to 4 points on support for keeping AI under human control and for protecting U.S. workers, where backing for each sits near 80 percent.
That shared skepticism is appearing on the ground. In New York, the group No Data Center FLX has organized protests, sued the local zoning board of appeals and collected almost 23,000 petition signatures opposing a proposed facility. In cities and counties, zoning fights draw together environmentalists, residents struggling with high electricity costs, local-control advocates and farmers worried about land being consumed, all opposing projects backed by powerful corporate interests.
Congress has also shown signs of cross-party agreement. In mid-September, the House passed the Ratepayer Protection Act 417 to 3. The bill asks states to consider adopting a policy requiring data centers to pay for the upgrades needed to meet their electricity demands. The three no votes came from progressives who said the bill, which would establish a voluntary structure, did not go far enough to protect consumers. Similar sentiment contributed to the defeat of the Senate version, a sign that even allies can pursue different strategies, with some proponents of tighter rules accepting incremental progress while others push for sweeping change.
As the midterms approach, candidates across the ballot are running advertisements against data centers on television and digital channels. President Donald Trump has weighed in, suggesting that data center opponents want their communities to be « backwards and poor ». That puts some Republican candidates in a difficult position, balancing voter concerns against the risk of alienating the president. The coalition is not without precedent. In the 1990s, opposition to the North American Free Trade Agreement united organized labor and environmentalists, longtime adversaries, over concerns about job losses and pollution, an alliance that did not extend beyond that fight.
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