Data Centers Lose Big in 2026 Midterm Elections

Voters in Tuesday's midterms delivered a crushing defeat to AI data centers alongside a sweep of Democratic victories. Out of thirty-nine fully counted local referendums, thirty-eight enacted strict new limits on data center expansion. One source notes that restriction sides claimed about seventy-seven percent of the vote in those races. Gallup polling shows seventy percent of Americans do not want these facilities near their homes. NBC exit polls reveal that fifty-six percent of voters considered data centers a major factor in choosing their congressional representative. The only failed restriction happened in Harwood, North Dakota, though that ballot language did not actually mention data centers. Meanwhile, twenty-one separate local measures passed in Ohio targeting projects using fifty or more acres, twenty megawatts, or five hundred thousand gallons of water daily. Candidates campaigning against data centers also secured major governorships and congressional seats in states like Georgia, Ohio, New Jersey, and Virginia.