Voters signal opposition to AI data centers in local primaries
In local elections across the United States on Tuesday, voters proved data center opposition has transcended party politics. Republican voters in counties that supported President Donald Trump in 2024 听, for instance, showed that even within a party that typically aligns with pro-business and anti-regulatory policies, data center support can be a career-ending move.
Data centers, facilities that require sizable chunks of local energy, water, and land to fuel the artificial intelligence race that are often promised, have become a political flash point in America over the past year as voters flood town halls, city and county committee meetings, and campaign events to voice their opposition. The pushback has been bipartisan, with residents in Los Angeles County鈥檚 Monterey Park becoming the first to vote听 earlier this month. Virginia鈥檚 Democratically-controlled state legislature and Democratic governor on Monday, agreeing on a new tax on data centers for their energy consumption.
And in GOP primaries Tuesday, many Republican lawmakers who had supported data center expansion found themselves without jobs.
Why We Wrote This
Voters expressed their opposition to the construction of data centers in local elections across the United States. Traditionally pro-business Republican incumbents were ousted in primaries after supporting local data center projects.
Utah鈥檚 most powerful state lawmaker, Republican State Senate President Stuart Adams, after more than two decades in the state legislature, trailing primary opponent Stephanie Hollist . As chair of Utah鈥檚 Military Installation Development Authority, Mr. Adams helped fast-track approval for the Stratos Project:听a 鈥渉yperscale鈥� data center planned for Box Elder County in northwest Utah, which at full build would be one of the biggest data centers in the world and consume more than double the amount of energy that the state of Utah currently uses per year.
Two of the three Box Elder County Commissioners, who have also faced backlash for their unanimous approval of the project, faced Republican primary contests Tuesday and . This was a 鈥渕essage vote,鈥� says Brenna Williams, who has helped lead local opposition, rather than a well-researched one by voters, given that the two commission challengers have not denounced the project and could support it more than the incumbents.
鈥淭he commissioners, the Senate, the House, will they get the message after Tuesday that we don鈥檛 want it?鈥� says Ms. Williams, who has helped organize the Box Elder Accountability Referendum, or BEAR, a legal push to let voters have a voice on the project.
A BEAR-commissioned poll, conducted by an independent firm, found that of the county opposed the county鈥檚 data center plans. A suggests a similar opposition rate nationwide: 7 in 10 Americans said they opposed data center construction in their local area, far more than the 53% who said they oppose a nuclear power plant in their community. And this sentiment was shared across parties, with 75% of Democrats and 63% of Republicans strongly or somewhat opposing local construction of data centers.
The Trump administration has for data centers. And while Congress that would protect locals from data center-induced high energy bills, there has yet to be any concrete guidance from the legislative branch either. This means that local officials across the country have been at the forefront of the issue, granting approval, setting parameters, and in many cases, the focus of opposition campaigns.
In South Carolina, the Spartanburg County Council has faced so much criticism for that the council withdrew other similar tax breaks. Then on Monday - the day before two Republican council members faced primary opponents - the council took the first step towards . But the moratorium vote wasn鈥檛 enough to save them. On Tuesday, both incumbents were in Tuesday鈥檚 primary, and a third Republican on the council, the chair, declined to seek reelection citing the data center controversy in his decision.
In Calvert County, Maryland, the three incumbent Republican commissioners, a county moratorium on data center activity in the county from passing, who have to unabated data center construction.
鈥淭he message was heard throughout the county鈥攚e will stop data centers!鈥� Patti Stueckler, a Maryland real estate agent who unseated one of the incumbents, Wednesday morning. 鈥淣ow on to November!鈥�
