Key facts
- 70% of US adults opposed local data center construction, per a July Gallup poll cited in the report.
- New York enacted a temporary pause on hyperscale data center construction in July, the report said.
- Maine governor Janet Mills vetoed a data center moratorium bill in April, the report said.
- A leaked Republican strategy memo called data centers a sleeper issue for the election cycle, per the report.
Data centers became a dividing issue in the US midterm election campaign, with voters across party lines opposing local construction, according to a report that did not date the event.
The report cited a July Gallup poll finding that 70% of US adults, spanning Republicans, Democrats and independents, opposed local data center construction. It said residents cited electricity and water use, rising power costs passed to households and water contamination during construction, while supporters said the facilities create jobs and long-term investment.
Barrett Marson, a Republican consultant in Arizona, said data centers were the subject of the campaign, according to the report. The report said New York enacted a temporary pause on hyperscale data center construction in July, and that Maine's Democratic governor, Janet Mills, vetoed a similar measure in April. Hannah Pingree, a Democratic gubernatorial candidate, said Mills was wrong to veto what Pingree called an urgent moratorium, the report said.
The report said Trump supported data centers and described opposition to them as Chinese public relations, and that a leaked Republican strategy memo called data centers a sleeper issue for the election cycle. In Virginia, the report said, Democratic Senate candidate Mark Warner said data centers should not pass electric costs to residents and Republican candidate Bert Mizusawa said he would support communities blocking data centers. In Texas, the report said Republican governor Greg Abbott announced a pause on data center construction that reports showed did not slow development.