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Amid widespread backlash against data center development, the massive tech facilities have emerged as a key issue heading into November’s midterm elections. Republican lawmakers across the country are taking notice of the uproar and moving to curtail rapid expansion. President Donald Trump apparently missed the memo, though, and continues to embrace the tech boom.
The GOP Data Center Divide
In a recent interview with his former lawyer Michael Cohen, Trump said communities that reject data centers are “making a mistake.” “[T]here's plenty of communities that want them. Because it means jobs, and it means tremendous tax revenue coming into the towns and cities that take them,” he continued. “So you know, it's like the smart ones are saying, 'I want them so badly.'”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is apparently not among the “smart ones.” The Republican governor recently issued a directive that halted “up to 1,800 data center projects.” In a post on X, Abbott said the new “guidelines & guardrails” are intended to protect Texans from concerns surrounding data centers, including heavy water and power use, rising costs, and disruptions to local communities.
Abbott previously showed great enthusiasm for data centers. In November last year, the governor announced that Texas was the “epicenter of AI development” while praising a $40 billion data center investment by Google in the Lone Star State. During an interview with ABC’s This Week, Abbott explained his pivot:
“They pop up in places that nobody ever heard of before, until they started the construction. And so, they had not been working in collaboration with the state, they’d not been in collaboration with local governments, and so they basically dug their own grave for the problem that’s been caused for them and that’s why they got the backlash they deserve.”
In the Great Lakes State, former Rep. Mike Rogers, the Republican nominee for Michigan’s US Senate seat, called for a “one-year moratorium on new data centers” so state authorities can “establish a fair, transparent approval process that puts local communities first.” He added, “While I don’t support a federal ban, Michigan needs stronger guardrails to protect community control, prevent utility price hikes, protect our water and stop pay-to-play schemes.”
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, a Republican, took a similarly skeptical stance on data centers, signing a bill earlier this year that regulated their development. "You should not, as a hard-working Floridian, have to subsidize some of the wealthiest companies in the history of humanity," DeSantis said at the time.
Americans Oppose Data Centers
Earlier this year, a Gallup survey found a staggering 71% of Americans oppose local construction of AI data centers — nearly half of the survey’s respondents even said they “strongly oppose” the facilities. A Fox News poll conducted around three months later returned similar results, with 70% of voters saying they “oppose building data centers in their area to support artificial intelligence.”
The vast majority of Americans oppose data center development for a variety of reasons, with half pointing to environmental concerns such as water and energy consumption, noise, and pollution. Others cite fears about AI itself, potential economic consequences, and the effect data centers could have on quality of life.
Younger voters — those under age 30 — are the most skeptical of AI, but views on data centers are remarkably similar across age groups. About 70% of every generation opposes new data center development, while roughly 80% favor delaying new projects until environmental and community concerns are resolved.
Data centers undoubtedly represent a political liability, and state-level Republicans can clearly feel the pressure. The divide between Trump and a growing number of GOP lawmakers on the data center issue will face its toughest test in November.
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