Tech and AI

Voters back curbs on new data centres in almost every local ballot measure at the US midterm elections, and candidates who promised a pause win in Ohio and Texas

By Staff Writer  |  5 November 2026

Of 41 local measures in 10 states, only one went the way of the developers, and the new governors of Ohio and Texas both favour a pause on new projects.

Voters in the United States backed restrictions on data centres, or turned down measures that would have eased their development, in almost every local ballot contest with a result by Wednesday 4 November, the day after the midterm elections. There were 41 local measures in 10 states dealing with the construction of data centres, and only one went the industry's way. In Harwood, North Dakota, voters rejected a charter amendment that would have required additional review before the city approved industrial developments, including data centres.

A second tracker of local ballots counted 43 of 46 municipalities approving tighter restrictions on data centres. Harwood was again the only place to reject them, and two results were still awaited. The two counts draw on different lists of measures, but both point the same way.

The issue reached the top of the ticket

Ohio, which had 21 local measures on the ballot, became the main battleground. The Democrat Sherrod Brown unseated the Republican Senator Jon Husted after campaigning against him as the face of the state's data centre boom. In the race for governor, the Democrat Amy Acton defeated Vivek Ramaswamy. Acton supports a conditional moratorium on new projects, under which operators would be required to cover all of the utility costs they create and to build only with union labour.

In Texas, the Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Governor Greg Abbott after blaming him for the rapid spread of data centres across the state. Abbott had ordered a pause earlier this year while the energy and water use of the facilities was audited. Hinojosa, who takes office in January, supports a temporary moratorium on new building.

In one poll of voters, 56 per cent said data centres were a major factor, or more, in deciding how to vote, and Democrats gave the issue more weight than Republicans. A separate review covered the public positions of 74 candidates in 36 races for governor. It found that 43 per cent supported a ban or a moratorium on new projects, and that a further 51 per cent wanted more regulation or development only on conditions. Support for a ban or a moratorium ran at 60 per cent among the Democratic candidates reviewed and 30 per cent among the Republicans.

AI company CEOs should be called to testify under oath.

Greg Casar, Chair, Congressional Progressive Caucus, US House of Representatives

Casar, a Texas Democrat, said the revolt against data centres had been one of the top issues of the election, and that Democrats should hold what he called AI billionaires to account rather than take their money.

What it means for projects

Governors shape state regulation, energy policy and the permits a project needs, although approval powers vary from one jurisdiction to another, and a temporary pause or a targeted restriction is not the same as opposing every project. A Gallup survey earlier this year found that more than 70 per cent of Americans would oppose a data centre being built in their neighbourhood, and a Pew Research Center survey found that Americans increasingly blame the facilities for rising household energy bills.

For developers and the contractors who build for them, the risk to a data centre programme now sits in the town charter and the governor's office as well as in the queue for a grid connection.