The artificial intelligence data center boom hit a roadblock on election night, further complicating the tech industry’s historic expansion plans.
According to Ballotpedia, 41 local ballot measures in 10 states were on the ballot Tuesday that would limit data center construction in various ways.
Voters opposed data centers on each measure except one in Harwood, North Dakota, according to a Ballotpedia analysis and additional results collected by CNBC on Wednesday.
The City of Harwood voted against a proposed charter rule amendment that would require additional review before the city approves industrial developments that include data centers.
According to Ballotpedia, 21 local bills were on the ballot in Ohio, where Democrat Sherrod Brown ousted incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted as the “face of data centers.”
The Buckeye State, named America’s top state for business in 2026 by CNBC, is a key battleground on this issue.
In August, OpenAI announced it had secured 8 gigawatts of computing capacity for its planned PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Ohio, the world’s largest AI data center campus. The first phase of construction is scheduled to begin this year, with a phased start in 2028, according to the project website.
SoftBank and SB Energy are partnering with the U.S. Department of Energy to develop a data center campus in Ohio. SoftBank is a major investor in OpenAI, and the two companies announced plans to invest $1 billion in SB Energy earlier this year.
Nvidia It is also backstopping the project, which could cost more than $500 billion.
Democratic physician Amy Acton defeated Republican businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, and the Ohio governor’s mansion turned blue. Acton supports a “conditional moratorium” on data centers to ensure they cover 100% of their utility bills and are “built solely with union labor.”
Backlash at the ballot box
Ahead of the election, AI trading was already slow on Wall Street, with chipmakers, NeoCloud and other data center companies selling off in October on concerns about rising interest rates and overspending. Hyperscaler — alphabet, Amazon, microsoft and meta —They spend hundreds of billions of dollars a year on AI infrastructure to meet what they call insatiable demand. All of these companies, except Microsoft, became cash flow negative in the process.
Getting data center projects off the ground may be becoming more difficult.
Ballotpedia says data centers are a key motivator for voters on up-and-down ballot issues, with communities in California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Maine, New Jersey, Nevada and Wisconsin also voting to weigh the issue.
A CNBC voter poll found that 56% of voters said data centers were an important or major factor in their decision, with Democrats rating the issue higher than Republicans.
Democrats who called for moratoriums and restrictions on new projects won key elections in Ohio, Wisconsin, Georgia and Texas, and Texas is on track to become the world’s largest data center market by 2030.
In one of the night’s biggest takeaways for Democrats, Gina Hinojosa unseated Gov. Greg Abbott, accusing the Republican incumbent of rapidly building data centers across Texas and putting the interests of the tech industry ahead of local communities.
Silicon Valley is spending record amounts of money to shape the 2026 midterm elections, with Republicans holding a commanding lead among the biggest campaign donors. A CNBC analysis of Federal Election Commission records found that 14 of the 20 largest donor groups supported Republicans almost exclusively. Interest in cryptocurrencies, AI, and online gambling exceeded $377 million.
Elon Musk has spent hundreds of millions of dollars this election cycle, with little success.
“Data centers in space look very attractive right now,” Musk wrote in a post about X.
The Texas results appear to be a warning sign for the AI industry as a whole.
AI accountability
Within hours of voting closing, Democrats had already called for AI executives to testify under oath.
The results were first noticed by Rep. Greg Cassar, a Texas Democrat who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus.
“The Democratic majority in the House must make protecting Americans’ jobs, liberties, and livelihoods from AI billionaires a top priority,” Cazale said in a statement after Democrats were predicted to win the House. “CEOs of AI companies should be called to testify under oath.”
Cazale also accused the Republican Party of being “bought and paid by AI billionaires” and argued that voters have rejected their influence, warning Democrats to “hold them accountable instead of cashing their checks.”
He said the data center battle is just the beginning.
“The uprising against data centers was one of the most important issues in the 2026 election,” he said. “And years from now, we will look back on this as just the early tremors of a larger AI earthquake that will upend American politics.”
—CNBC’s Ashley Capoot contributed to this article.
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