National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Friday that he expects data center growth to continue as expected despite a blue wave election in which voters overwhelmingly supported limits on high-tech infrastructure.
On CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” Hassett acknowledged the dozens of measures on midterm ballots in states that seek to limit data centers, a key part of President Donald Trump’s push to win the global artificial intelligence race.
In at least 46 of the roughly 50 such initiatives on the ballot in 2026, a majority voted in favor of limiting facility development, according to Ballotpedia’s tally.
“We respect the regions that decide that’s what they want to do,” Hassett said. “But America is a big place, and at this time, no data centers planned for the next few years are affected by these voting activities.”
“Beyond that, there is plenty of room for continued data center growth in the U.S., as predicted before the election,” he said.
Hassett predicted data center expansion would continue in states with more welcoming governors, and suggested that even hostile states would eventually respond.
“That’s exactly what’s going to happen,” he said. “Or what will happen is that the benefits of data centers will become so obvious that people will decide to change their minds about how data centers are regulated.”
Hassett also blamed Thursday’s technology-driven market selloff on “uncertainty about what political changes will mean for data centers going forward.”
“We now have a new majority and they’re probably going to come in and disrupt there, and I think the market is concerned about that,” he said.
“But I think the economic forces that we see everywhere else are very strong. Of course, at the end of the day, you can take something that’s growing as fast as data centers and make it grow a little bit slower. You can still have large economies.”
“So I think we’re still very optimistic about what’s going to happen,” he said.
A CNBC Voter Poll found that 56% of midterm voters perceive data centers to be an important or major issue, and of those who think data centers are important, 62% support Democratic candidates in general.
President Trump has strongly embraced AI and data centers, even trying to reverse their seeming unpopularity by rebranding the technology as “superintelligence” (SI).
In a post on Truth Social on Friday, President Trump made it clear that despite the medium-term losses, his support for the emerging industry remains unwavering.
“As President, I support Super Intelligence (SI) 100% and will work with the many states in the United States who want to get rich by deploying Super Intelligence (SI),” Trump wrote. “They are money. Only a foolish leader would say ‘no’ to the wealth they bring!”
