Data centers cluster in Republican states, and voter backlash is straining the GOP before midterms

Left · 1Cleanview Research, an independent energy market intelligence company, found that 75% of data centers under construction and 80% of those in the planning stage are in predominantly Republican states. 1 Left · 1The concentration has grown: when ChatGPT launched in late 2022 most data centers were being built in blue states, but by 2025, 68% of data centers online were in red states. 1 Left · 1Chris Millay, a data center analyst at the consultancy Greenmantle, attributed this to red states' history of accepting large energy-intensive projects, relatively little environmental regulation and available open land. 1

Left · 1Public opposition is rising. CBS News reports that opposition outweighs support by 30 points, that polls show a majority of Republicans oppose data centers near them, and that residents cite property values, noise, higher energy bills and resource depletion. 1 Mixed · 2President Donald Trump is one of data centers' biggest boosters, seeing the AI race as critical to the economy and national security. He has dismissed opposition, posting that communities should not want data centers only if they want to be "backwards and poor", though he has urged developers to give back to local communities. 1 2 Left · 1Some Republican candidates are breaking with him. In Texas, Gov. Greg Abbott has paused environmental permits and grid connections for new data centers, and Senate nominee Ken Paxton wants to end the state's sales tax break for them. In Ohio, gubernatorial candidate Vivek Ramaswamy vowed an executive order halting approval of new projects, while Democrat Amy Acton calls for a conditional moratorium. 1

Left · 1In Georgia, Republican gubernatorial candidate Rick Jackson is sticking with Trump and says the decision should be left to local officials, while Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms calls for a temporary moratorium. Candidates there have spent nearly $13 million on ads mentioning data centers, the most of any state; campaigns nationally have spent $45 million, mostly in opposition, according to AdImpact. 1 Centre · 1An Economist analysis, published by Hindustan Times, matched almost 150,000 Economist/YouGov respondents to their nearest data centre. It found that among voters within 2km of one, the share planning to back a Democrat in November rose from 54% to 61% since May, against a national rise from 53% to 55%. 2 Centre · 1About 17% of Trump's 2024 voters living within 2km of a data centre now say they would support a Democrat, versus 6% of his voters elsewhere. The Economist cautions the pattern could reflect who lives near data centres, and built a demographic model to account for that. 2

Mixed · 2Few Americans live near a data centre, but the Economist says the effect could be decisive in places such as Nevada's 2nd, Colorado's 4th (where Lauren Boebert is the Republican incumbent) and Ohio's 15th districts, where Democratic candidates are campaigning on the issue. CBS notes that because most of the next wave of projects is planned in states Trump won in 2024, Republican candidates' choices could decide whether projects are paused, made costlier or canceled. 2 1