After big wins in the US midterm elections on Tuesday, some Democratic lawmakers have already signaled they want to tackle artificial growth, particularly data centers.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., touted in a post on Sanders, who caucuses with Democrats, said his message to political leaders was clear.
“The national data center is currently suspended,” he wrote in the post. “Americans don’t want a Big Tech oligarchy destroying the environment, destroying jobs, and threatening the future of humanity.”
In a separate post on X, Rep. Yasamin Ansari, D-Ariz., wrote that pausing AI development must be a top priority for the Democratic House majority on day one. Rep. Greg Cassar (D-Texas), chairman of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, highlighted the post, saying, “That’s right!”
According to a CNBC Voter Poll, 56% of voters said AI and data centers are important or key factors in decision-making at polling places. Sixty-five percent of voters said they voted for Democratic candidates for Congress.
Stocks related to artificial intelligence development fell slightly on Wednesday following the election, but the sell-off intensified on Thursday as investors worried that a Democratic victory would have a big impact on data center construction. Chip stocks led the decline. of iShares Semiconductor ETF (SOXX) fell nearly 9% on Tuesday. Nvidia fell 8% and Advanced Micro Devices fell more than 14%.
Democrats, who flipped a key race on Tuesday, also singled out big technology companies and data centers.
Annie Andrews, the South Carolina Democrat who flipped the state’s Senate seat on Tuesday, launched a website during the campaign that dubbed her opponent, Sen. Darline Graham, “Data Center Darline.”
In his victory speech Tuesday, Andrews said voters chose South Carolina where “decisions about our communities are made by the people who live in our communities, not by billionaires and data center companies in Washington, D.C.”
“I don’t work in a data center,” said Ohio Democrat Sherrod Brown, who is scheduled to return to the Senate Tuesday by defeating incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted, in his victory speech.
Democratic governors also attacked data centers in their victory speeches. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, who signed an executive order slowing data center development in August, said big tech companies shouldn’t decide residents’ futures. “Instead, people in our local communities have the final say,” he said.
Perhaps the most important state for data center expansion is Texas, where 27% of its planned data center capacity is located, according to Wells Fargo.
Gina Hinojosa, the Democrat who ousted incumbent Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, did not directly mention data centers in her victory speech, even though data centers played a key role in her campaign.
“If I become governor, I will suspend, or ban, all data center approvals until Congress passes legislation to protect Texans,” she said in a video posted to X in late October. “This is a battle. Is this a Texas by the people, for the people, or is this a billionaire’s world and we just live here? Data centers are part of that battle.”
