Washington, D.C. – In elections across the country yesterday, voters decisively rejected President Trump’s polluter-friendly Big Tech agenda. Support for unfettered buildout of AI data centers has been a pillar of Trump’s platform. Meanwhile, Elon Musk, the world’s wealthiest man, spent hundreds of millions of dollars on the election cycle in support of his personal AI ambitions – highlighted by his failed attempt to sway election outcomes in Texas. 

In dozens of states, voters overwhelmingly chose candidates that were explicitly opposed to the unfettered buildout of hyperscale data centers and the aggressive profit-driven interests of Big Tech billionaires. Most notably:

• In Texas, Michigan, Oregon, New Mexico, Ohio, Georgia and New York, gubernatorial candidates supporting moratoria on data centers won. And in Kansas the Democratic candidate who made stopping data centers a key pillar of her campaigns is ahead. Across the country voters rejected Big Tech’s big spending. 
• Wins (or likely wins) for Congressional candidates whose campaigns prioritized a national moratorium on AI data centers, including: Will Lawrence (MI-7), Randy Villegas (CA-22), Jamie Ager (NC-11), Rebecca Cooke (WI-3), Katy Padilla Stout (TX-23), Matt Dunlap (ME-2), Bob Harvie (PA-1), Jake Johnson (MN-1), and Matt Little (MN-2).
• Senator-Elect Sherrod Brown made opposition to data centers a centerpiece of his successful campaign to defeat incumbent Ohio Republican Sen. John Husted. Michigan Senator-Elect Abdul El-Sayed has called for a halt to new data center buildout. And Scott Colom, in a remarkably close race in Mississippi, has called for a statewide data center moratorium as well.

In response, Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter issued the following statement:

“Voters across the country have emphatically rejected the push for AI data centers. In state after state and race after race, Big Tech has failed to deliver – and everyday Americans have won. Not only in Washington, but in state capitols and village halls across the country, newly elected leaders are poised to stand up to the unregulated, reckless buildout of hyperscale data centers wherever they are proposed. 

“Congressional Democrats now have a mandate to stand up to Big Tech. They must start by rejecting the pro-polluter “permitting reform” bill before them in the lame duck Congress. And a desperately-needed moratorium on new data center construction must be enacted, so lawmakers and community leaders have the time to determine if – not how – this out-of-control industry can ever be safely regulated.”