This is the first data center centric election. A lot rides on those gray non descript looking buildings.
Salience around AI data centers is growing this election cycle as the fight over the infrastructure’s costs and environmental impacts may be threatening Republicans in battleground states like Texas and Ohio.
Grassroots movements in rural communities, particularly where President Trump won by double-digit margins in each of his presidential bids, are threatening the rural vote the GOP has counted on for decades, experts and voters say.
The debate is emblematic in communities like Pickaway County, Ohio — which Trump won by around 50 points over former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024 — where residents are airing their opinions on EdgeConneX’s latest data center.
“That’s weighing heavily, especially with the Senate races,” Pickaway County, Ohio, resident Sherri Fahringer, who is running for county commissioner, said regarding the data center issue.
Data centers are increasingly being built in rural communities, with 67 percent of planned projects slated in rural areas, according to an April Pew Research Center study.
by Mira Bhakta ‘The Hill’
Issues that bring the left and right together are precious few these days but data centers are one of them. 2022 was a watershed year when Chat GPT was introduced to the general public and the need for more computing space became very evident as a plethora of companies jumped on the AI bandwagon in a race to the death to be biggest and best. AI has now infiltrated most aspects of life in America and is increasingly used to automate routine tasks in a variety of different industries.
