American voters overwhelmingly reject AI data centers

In the midterm election, data centers were explicitly on the ballot in more than 40 races across 13 states, and voters went against them in 38 races and counting, with six cities voting to ban data centers outright and 12 putting limits on how many megawatts they could draw. Candidates who supported data centers also lost across the country, most strikingly in Texas, where Governor Gregg Abbott lost his bid for a fourth term by more than 700,000 votes to Gina Hinojosa after making Texas a data-center-friendly state with more than 300 working data centers and plans to double that number. The result matters because local opposition to power bills, water use and costs is now translating into bans, caps and electoral defeats, turning public sentiment into a material constraint on the AI buildout rather than background noise.

• Hacker News (AI)2026-11-05 00:43