Voters overwhelmingly rejected AI data centers on election night – dealing a major setback to Elon Musk and other tech bigwigs pushing a massive buildout.
At least 50 ballot measures dealing with data centers — either allowing them or limiting them — were up for consideration in states around the country. Voters decided against centers in 47 cases, with the outcome of three votes still pending as of Wednesday afternoon, according to data compiled by Ballotpedia.
The lone favorable outcome for the tech sector occurred in Harwood, ND, where local voters shot down a measure that would have imposed additional review requirements on industrial sites, including data centers, before they can move forward.
The biggest data center rebuke occurred in Ohio, where 21 ballot measures related to controversial sites were up for consideration. Democratic candidate Sherrod Brown focused heavily on the issue in his successful senatorial bid, painting Republican opponent Jon Husted as the “face of data centers.”
The nationwide rejection of data centers coincided with a “blue tsunami” for Democrats, who secured majorities in the House and Senate in a stunning rout.
Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, who defeated longtime incumbent Gov. Greg Abbott, has backed a moratorium on data center projects with an emphasis on making sure the facilities do not strain the power grid.
The outcome of the data center ballot initiatives could give members of the 120th Congress impetus to impose regulation on the sites, according to Ed Mills, a policy analyst for investment firm Raymond James.
“If they consistently see there’s an issue that voters support overwhelmingly, that is going to be their position,” he told the Washington Post.
Top tech executives, such as Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg, OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Anthropic’s Dario Amodei, are expected to come under the microscope with Democrats firmly entrenched in power in Washington.
“Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” Musk, a major Republican donor, wrote on X, referring to one of his pet projects at SpaceX.
Meanwhile, Democratic Rep. Greg Casar, head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, wrote on X that “AI company CEOs should be called to testify under oath.”
“The revolt against data centers was one of the top issues of the 2026 election, and in a few years we will look back on it as just the early tremor of a much bigger AI earthquake upending American politics,” Casar said.
