Data centers become a 2026 election flashpoint as Leading the Future spends $45 million

The data center backlash is not confined to one party or one region. In Texas, the state with the second-highest number of planned data center projects after Virginia, Democratic and Republican candidates alike are trying to look tough on the issue, though they emphasize different messages. James Talarico's plan focuses on environmental impact and an "AI Dividend" funded by a tax on AI-attributable profits, while Ken Paxton's plan centers on keeping Chinese technology out of US data centers. Both want data centers to bear their own energy infrastructure costs and to end certain tax exemptions.

What stands out is how quickly candidates have shifted. In Pennsylvania, Governor Josh Shapiro proudly announced a $20 billion Amazon investment last year but has since signed an executive order prohibiting nondisclosure agreements for data center developers and taken AI data center proposals off the fast track. His Republican challenger, Stacy Garrity, once called rural Pennsylvania "perfect places to put data centers" but now supports a pause of up to three years. Similar reversals appear in Florida, where Byron Donalds has tried to assure voters he would protect them from higher energy costs, and in Wisconsin, where both gubernatorial candidates have backed away from previous support.

The money flowing into these races suggests both parties see data centers as a mobilizing issue. Leading the Future and Public First Action have funded Democratic and Republican-aligned groups, while Tomorrow Together launched $4 million in ads for battleground House races with messages about data center development and AI safety. A leaked NRSC memo warned that data centers are "the anchor hanging around Husted's neck" in Ohio and that a loss there could make politicians elsewhere avoid the issue entirely.