Earlier this year (June 23) Phillipsbillboard wrote a piece about the political opportunity Data Centers offered to a smart candidate or political operative to organize around. Today you cannot pick up a newspaper or listen to a newscast that does not mention Data Centers. They have become the issue, and a central political battleground with opposition crossing party lines.
Political causes do not often transcend partisanship, but this one does. The opposition is unusually bipartisan which makes this interesting for the midterms. A national Annenberg survey found 61% oppose new Data Centers in their communities…Democrats 69%, Republicans 54% and Independents 53%.
Independent voters are one of the largest and most influential groups in American politics. Elections are often decided by these independent voters, particularly in competitive states. If there was ever an election where a candidate…either Republican or Democrat…has an opportunity to attract independent voters, it’s the Data Centers issue in the 2026 midterms.
Data Centers could have a larger political impact than their importance as a policy issue. It directly hits the pocketbook & lifestyle of voters. It crosses the normal Republican-Democratic divide with political consequences. This makes the issue dangerous for incumbents, because a candidate can’t simply assume that opposition comes from the other party. It can come from inside and outside…it can and will change individual races. The grassroots are far ahead of the politicians on the Data Centers issue particularly at the local level.
Those running for congress, state legislature, governor’s races…take note…a small number of highly motivated voters can enormously change the outcome in local & state races. This is more of a warning…than the opportunity offered in our June 23rd blog post “Data Center Nextdoor”.
“It’s Data Centers, stupid”.