Voters in communities across the United States turned out against data centers on Election Day, 3 November, in a wave of local ballot measures that went almost entirely the opponents' way. Route Fifty counts about 40 measures in 10 states, with virtually all won by opponents on preliminary results, while 404 Media tallies 38 losses for data centers out of more than 40 measures in 13 states, with counting continuing.
Ohio had the most votes, nearly 20 towns, cities and counties, some on outright bans and some on zoning changes, and opponents appear to have won every one. Six cities voted to ban data centers outright and 12 capped the power they may draw. Emporia, Kansas, passed a ban on "high impact" facilities, meaning those drawing over 10 megawatts at peak or using 100,000 gallons of water a day, with just over 60% of the vote. Alhambra, California, near Los Angeles, was on track for a citywide ban. Other defeats came in Illinois, Maine and New Jersey, and more votes follow next month in Arkansas and North Dakota.
“Americans have been feeling frustrated this summer and fall at the peremptory way the new technology has been imposed without guardrails, as fast as possible”
Mark Muro, senior fellow, Brookings Institution, at an event last month · route-fifty.com ↗
The one apparent win for the industry was in Harwood, North Dakota, where 75% of 430 voters rejected a charter amendment that would have required an independent review and public hearing for large industrial projects. It would not have touched the already approved Applied Digital campus. Some of the votes elsewhere were advisory and do not bind elected officials.
Candidates tied to the projects fared badly too. A Kentucky mayoral candidate lost to a write-in and an Oklahoma mayor was recalled. In Texas, Greg Abbott, who had courted data centers and taken more than $9 million from donors linked to them, lost his bid for a fourth term to Democrat Gina Hinojosa by over 700,000 votes. Asheville, North Carolina, and San Marcos, Texas, elected mayors who campaigned against data centers. Elon Musk reportedly spent about half a billion dollars on the midterms, $224 million of it in Texas.
Stock picture of a data center interior with rows of server racks
Image: 404 Media
Opponents point to water use, power bills, the burden on residents and secrecy in deals between councils and developers. Local Progress, a network of local officials, read the results as proof that people do not want data centers nearby and hopes local leaders will resist Big Tech pressure. Food & Water Action said Big Tech had failed to deliver. An NBC exit poll found 56% of voters called AI and data centers a crucial or major factor, and 64% of those voted Democratic.
About AI data centers
A data center is a facility that houses the servers, storage, networking and cooling used to store and process digital information, and a growing number are built to train and run AI models. The largest cloud sites are called hyperscale.
Local resistance predates this election. Royalton, Vermont, voted in March 2026 on a measure to outlaw building a data center in town, with backers citing high energy and water use and little community benefit, though no project had been proposed in the state. Port Washington, Wisconsin, voted in April to require voter approval of tax increment financing districts over $10 million, which are also used for data centers. Monterey Park, California, voted overwhelmingly to ban data centers permanently, which appeared to be the first vote of its kind in the US.
An Ohio constitutional amendment banning new data centers could be on the ballot next year. In Texas, regulators kept approving projects after Abbott's announced "pause", until the permitting portal was shut following 404 Media's reporting.
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