Data center backlash shapes midterm ballots, campaigns across US

Restrictions and outright bans on data centers are appearing on state and local ballots across the US in the 2026 midterm election cycle as concerns about electricity costs, water use and impacts on local communities shape campaigns across party lines.

Voters will consider 34 data center-related measures in November, according to nonprofit elections website Ballotpedia. These ballot initiatives cover 35 jurisdictions in 30 counties across California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin. Four other measures went before voters earlier in 2026, and all favored tighter development restrictions. Citizen petitions placed 31 of the measures on the ballot.

Ohio has 20 ballot initiatives across 17 jurisdictions. Proposals range from requiring hyperscale data center developers receiving tax incentives to provide financial guarantees to prohibiting data centers outright.

Elsewhere, the issue is influencing local, state-level and congressional races, even where no data center measure is on the ballot.

New York is the only state with a statewide moratorium, while local governments in 40 states have an active data center ban or moratorium. From January through July, local governments adopted 294 moratoriums and bans, according to Programs.com, a consultancy that tracks AI trends. More than 50 data center projects have been canceled in 2026 amid community opposition.

The backlash coincides with a historic expansion of US computing infrastructure. 451 Research by S&P Global tracked 3,173 operational US data centers with about 56.6 gigawatts of net IT power as of the second quarter, plus 1,140 planned facilities.

States like Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia are seen as microcosms of the phenomenon. Each initially welcomed and even incentivized the development of data center facilities, touting the economic benefits for their states.

Pennsylvania

Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, signed an executive order Aug. 18 barring data center projects from fast-track permitting and requiring developers to fund their electricity use. The order also allows state environmental regulators to withhold permits until a project has secured required local approvals. It is intended to ensure that speculative projects do not move forward at the expense of local communities and ratepayers.

Shapiro, who is running for reelection against Republican state Treasurer Stacy Garrity, acted as Pennsylvania had 70 active data centers and 71 proposed or under construction, according to the Data Center Proposal Tracker.

Mike Mikus, a principal at western Pennsylvania campaign strategy firm Chartier Group, said the opposition to data centers differs from the partisan divide experienced over fracking in the early 2000s.

"What I'm seeing now is Republicans and Democrats alike and Independents who are steadfastly opposed to data centers coming to their communities," Mikus said.

Texas

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has also reversed course.

In November 2025, Abbott, a Republican, called Texas "the epicenter of AI development" while announcing Google LLC's $40 billion investment in cloud and AI infrastructure. At a June 30 campaign stop, Abbott called for prohibiting AI data centers in rural neighborhoods, ending their tax breaks and requiring developers to fund their projects. On Sept. 21, he ordered Texas environmental regulators to pause permit reviews while the state audits potential effects on water quality and the power grid.

The shift follows polling by the Texas Politics Project in which 57% of voters opposed data centers in their communities. Abbott faces Democratic state Representative Gina Hinojosa, who supports data center moratoriums.

Data center policy also figures in the US Senate contest between Republican state Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico.

Ector County, Texas, Judge Dustin Fawcett said development is increasingly moving onto former agricultural land as metropolitan areas run short of space. Residents of nearby communities have grown frustrated with encroachment and rising costs, he said, making data centers a "scapegoat" for broader urban sprawl.

Fawcett nevertheless supports two data center projects in Ector County being developed by New Era Energy & Digital Inc. and Cipher Digital Inc. He said one of those facilities could eventually carry a $50 billion valuation, compared with the county's current $22 billion tax base, and that both would pay full property taxes to local taxing entities, including the school district, medical center and junior college. Ector County, in West Texas, includes the city of Odessa.

Virginia

Northern Virginia's Data Center Alley is becoming a bellwether for how communities may respond as development accelerates elsewhere. Supervisors in Loudoun County backed a plan to pause final action for as long as a year on data center and substation applications requiring legislative approval while the county reviews development rules.

US Representative Suhas Subramanyam (Democrat-Virginia), whose district includes parts of Loudoun, said the US needs a more deliberate approach to siting rather than a nationwide moratorium or unrestricted development.

"If we approach it the way we have right now, there will, in essence, be a moratorium on data centers nationwide because communities will fight them everywhere they try to go," Subramanyam said.

Subramanyam called siting and power infrastructure his main concerns, and said Northern Virginia has reached a different stage than communities preparing to host their first projects.

"I don't believe data centers should be built in our community anymore," he said. "We have too many at this point."

451 Research tracked 421 operating data centers in Northern Virginia and 244 planned facilities.

The political shift is changing companies' development strategies. Ammad Waheed, a Houston-based partner at Rose Norton Fulbright, said community engagement that was once considered a "nice-to-have" is now part of initial site selection.

Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger (Democrat) in September announced a Data Center Accountability Framework addressing community transparency, environmental impacts and energy affordability.

Subramanyam said state and local action alone would produce an ad hoc system. "Every level of government is responsible for the oversight of data center expansion," he said. "We need to have a national plan."