Key facts
- Senator Bernie Sanders called on X for an immediate national datacenter moratorium.
- Representative Yassamin Ansari called for a pause on advanced AI development and a ban on artificial superintelligence.
- Voters passed dozens of local ballot measures aimed at restricting datacenter projects, the report said.
- Meta platforms president Dina Powell McCormick told the Wall Street Journal building datacenters is "going to be harder" after the vote.
- Incoming Texas Governor Gina Hinojosa pledged to halt new datacenter projects until protections are in place.
- White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett told CNBC the ballot initiatives largely would not affect existing projects.
Several newly elected Democrats and Senator Bernie Sanders renewed calls for datacenter moratoriums in the days after the US midterm elections, in a report published November 6, 2026. The report said the Democratic victory was buoyed in part by backlash to the tech industry and has added momentum to efforts to slow the buildout of the facilities.
On X, Sanders posted a call for an immediate national datacenter moratorium on Wednesday. "Americans don't want Big Tech oligarchs wrecking the environment, gutting jobs and threatening humanity's future," Sanders said. Representative Yassamin Ansari of Arizona, a state where Elon Musk's SpaceX has proposed a datacenter project spanning more than 700 acres, posted on Wednesday that a pause on advanced AI development, regulation of the industry and a ban on artificial superintelligence should top the Democratic agenda. Musk mocked her post in a retweet and the two sparred, with Ansari forecasting congressional hearings.
The report said opposition to datacenters was one of the most visible issues of the midterms, figuring heavily in campaigns and in dozens of local ballot measures voters passed to restrict projects. Meta platforms president Dina Powell McCormick told the Wall Street Journal it is "going to be harder" to build datacenters following the vote. Musk, who the report said spent nearly half a billion dollars backing Republican candidates, posted on election night that "datacenters in space looking pretty appealing right now."
The report said post-midterm anxiety helped fuel a selloff of AI stocks in the week, as tech investors worried about new regulation such as datacenter pauses. White House National Economic Council director Kevin Hassett told CNBC he was confident datacenter construction would continue, arguing the ballot initiatives largely would not affect existing projects.
Newly elected representatives vowed in victory speeches to curb Big Tech's power. In New Hampshire, Senator-elect Chris Pappas praised constituents for "opposing big data centers that harm our communities." New Mexico congressman Gabe Vasquez said "the time is now to stop the AI billionaire class from forcing datacenters in our community." Ohio Senator-elect Sherrod Brown said: "I do not work for data centers. I work for you. I work for Ohio."