Local Voters Reject Data Center Push Across 10 States

Voters opposed data centers in nearly all of 41 local ballot measures across 10 states on Tuesday, according to Ballotpedia and results gathered by CNBC on Wednesday. The measures proposed different restrictions on data center construction; Harwood, North Dakota, was the sole exception.

The ballot results put local control over land and development in direct conflict with projects backed by major technology and investment firms. In Harwood, voters rejected a charter amendment that would have required additional review before city approval of industrial developments, including data centers. In the other local measures, voters opposed data centers.

Where the Projects Meet Local Resistance

Ohio put 21 local measures on the ballot, according to Ballotpedia. The state has become a key battleground over data centers, even as CNBC named it America’s Top State for Business in 2026. That label sits beside a dispute over what business gets to build, and what rules local communities can impose.

Democrat Sherrod Brown defeated Republican Sen. Jon Husted after portraying the incumbent as “the face of data centers.” Democrat Amy Acton, a physician, defeated Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, turning the Ohio Governor’s Mansion blue. Acton supports a “conditional moratorium” on data centers, saying projects should cover 100% of utility costs and “exclusively build with union labor.” Those proposals would place conditions on development, while leaving decisions about projects within the political and regulatory system.

California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, Nevada and Wisconsin also voted on data center issues, according to Ballotpedia. In a CNBC Voter Poll, 56% of voters said data centers were a crucial or major factor in their decision. Democrats ranked the issue higher than Republicans.

Corporate Money, Public Costs

OpenAI announced in August that it had secured 8 gigawatts of computing capacity at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Ohio, described as the world’s largest planned AI data center campus. The first construction phase is slated to begin this year, with capacity expected to come online in phases starting in 2028, according to the project’s website.

SoftBank and SB Energy are developing the campus in partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy. SoftBank is a major investor in OpenAI, and the two companies announced plans to invest $1 billion in SB Energy earlier this year. Nvidia is also backstopping the project, which could cost more than $500 billion in total. Acton’s utility-cost proposal makes the question of who pays for these projects part of the political fight.

Democrats who campaigned on pausing or regulating new projects won key races in Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia and Texas. Texas is on track to become the world’s largest data center market by 2030. Gina Hinojosa unseated Gov. Greg Abbott after blaming the Republican incumbent for rapid data center development across Texas and for putting the tech industry’s interests ahead of local communities.

The election results came as the AI trade was already faltering on Wall Street. Chipmakers, neoclouds and other data center-related companies sold off in October amid concerns about rising interest rates and overspending. Alphabet, Amazon, Microsoft and Meta are each spending hundreds of billions of dollars a year on AI infrastructure to meet what they say is insatiable demand. All except Microsoft have turned cash flow negative in the process. The results could make it harder to get data center projects off the ground.

Election Promises Meet the Donor Pipeline

Silicon Valley spent record sums trying to shape the 2026 midterms, while the GOP had a commanding advantage among the election’s biggest donors. A CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission records found that 14 of the 20 largest donor groups backed Republicans almost exclusively. Crypto, AI and online gambling interests contributed more than $377 million. Elon Musk, who spent hundreds of millions of dollars during the election cycle, largely came up empty. “Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” Musk wrote on X.

Within hours of polls closing, Democrats were calling for AI executives to testify under oath. Rep. Greg Casar, the Texas Democrat who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, said, “The House Democratic majority must make it a top priority to protect Americans’ jobs, freedom, and lives from AI billionaires. AI company CEOs should be called to testify under oath.”

Casar accused Republicans of being “bought and paid for by AI billionaires,” saying voters had rejected that influence and warning Democrats to “hold them accountable instead of cashing their checks.” He called the data center fight “one of the top issues of the 2026 election” and said it was “just the early tremor of a much bigger AI earthquake upending American politics.” Voters have shown opposition at the ballot box; the next moves described so far are hearings and regulation, with the same elected institutions deciding what limits the industry will face.