The only data center ballot measure that passed occurred where voters rejected a charter rule requiring additional municipal review

Large computing facilities built to train and run artificial intelligence models, and the public questions they raise about electricity, water and land. Fought locally through zoning and utility rates, and nationally through energy policy, grid capacity and federal support for the industry.

Opposition to AI data centers is mobilizing across the political spectrum, from environmental campaigners to former Tea Party conservatives, over electricity costs, water use and the tax breaks states grant operators. Figures from Bernie Sanders to Donald Trump have taken up the issue.

The 2026 public and political fight over AI data centers in the US, from who pays for them and who benefits to whether the country should build them at all, which has become a major issue in the midterm elections and led OpenAI to start calling its data centers compute campuses.