Which candidates won primaries by opposing data centers?

Will Lawrence, a Sunrise Movement cofounder, won Michigan's 7th District congressional primary; Justin Pearson won his Memphis congressional primary; and Abdul El-Sayed is running for Michigan Senate. On the Republican side, Zach Lahn won Iowa's GOP gubernatorial primary and Nancy Mace announced support for a moratorium while running for governor in South Carolina.

What percentage of Americans oppose data centers in their area?

About seven in ten Americans now oppose the idea of a data center being built near them.

Is data center opposition a partisan issue?

No. Opposition is nearly as high among Republicans as Democrats. As of 2025, 55 percent of politicians who have taken public anti-data-center stances are Republicans, who often cite concerns about tax incentives and energy grid strain, while Democrats tend to focus on environmental concerns.

AI Regulation & PolicyAI Business & IndustryHacker NewsAug 9, 2026Aug 10, 2026, 04:00 JST3 min read

Anti-data-center backlash reshapes US politics across party lines

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Key takeaway

Opposition to data center construction has become a dominant political issue across both major U.S. parties, with winning candidates in Democratic and Republican primaries making resistance to new data centers central to their campaigns.
About seven in ten Americans now oppose data centers being built near them, driven by concerns about energy costs, environmental impact, job losses to AI, and suspicion of billionaire-led tech companies.
Even in conservative states like Texas and Iowa, Republican politicians are backing construction moratoria or warning that their party risks losing midterm elections if it fails to act on the issue.

3 Key Points

What happened
Candidates opposing data center construction won major primaries across the country. Will Lawrence (Sunrise Movement cofounder) won Michigan's 7th District congressional primary; Abdul El-Sayed is running for Michigan Senate; Justin Pearson won his Memphis congressional primary after making resistance to xAI's data center a centerpiece of his campaign. Republican politicians are also adopting anti-data-center positions: Zach Lahn won Iowa's GOP gubernatorial primary calling for a full construction moratorium, Nancy Mace announced support for a moratorium in South Carolina, and candidates for governor in at least 12 states are running on data center moratoria.
Why it matters
About seven in ten Americans now oppose the idea of a data center being built near them, and opposition is nearly as high among Republicans as Democrats—making this one of the most bipartisan political issues. The backlash draws on populist suspicion of big companies, fear of AI-prompted job loss, and concerns about energy costs and environmental damage. Even in reliably Republican states like Texas, politicians warn that failure to act on data centers could cost them races in midterms.
What to watch
Pearson's Memphis district, redrawn after a Supreme Court ruling that gutted the federal Voting Rights Act, now includes rural, white, Republican-leaning voters who may share anti-data-center views—suggesting his opposition stance could cut across party lines. As of 2025, 55 percent of politicians who have taken public anti-data-center stances are Republicans, often citing tax incentives and energy grid strain.

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Context & Analysis

The data center backlash represents a rare moment of genuine bipartisan consensus in American politics, rooted not in partisan ideology but in localized economic and environmental concerns. Candidates from both parties have discovered that opposing large-scale data center construction—particularly those backed by billionaire-led tech companies—resonates across demographic and geographic divides. Lawrence's win in Michigan, El-Sayed's Senate campaign, and Pearson's primary victory in Memphis all hinged partly on framing data centers as threats to working people's energy costs, land, and water quality. Republican candidates like Lahn and Mace have adopted the same messaging, recognizing that their voters share the same anxieties about job displacement and corporate power that Democratic voters express. The issue crosses traditional political boundaries in ways few others do: even Pope Leo's recent encyclical on irresponsible technology development has been cited by candidates. The political incentive is now inverted—candidates are starting to lose elections if they fail to oppose data center construction, signaling that anti-data-center populism has become electorally unavoidable.

FAQ

Which candidates won primaries by opposing data centers?: Will Lawrence, a Sunrise Movement cofounder, won Michigan's 7th District congressional primary; Justin Pearson won his Memphis congressional primary; and Abdul El-Sayed is running for Michigan Senate. On the Republican side, Zach Lahn won Iowa's GOP gubernatorial primary and Nancy Mace announced support for a moratorium while running for governor in South Carolina.
What percentage of Americans oppose data centers in their area?: About seven in ten Americans now oppose the idea of a data center being built near them.
Is data center opposition a partisan issue?: No. Opposition is nearly as high among Republicans as Democrats. As of 2025, 55 percent of politicians who have taken public anti-data-center stances are Republicans, who often cite concerns about tax incentives and energy grid strain, while Democrats tend to focus on environmental concerns.

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