Money, Votes and Data Centers: Will Political Spending Overcome Rising Public Opposition to Data Centers?

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Written by John Egan for IIR News Intelligence (Sugar Land, Texas)

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Summary

Big Tech companies and data center developers are spending hundreds of billions of dollars to build data centers that power artificial intelligence. They're also starting to invest in political races. Will targeted spending by pro-data center groups overcome rising opposition to data centers?

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Planned Data Center Capital Spending Keeps Growing

According to Industrial Info Resources data, Big Tech companies and data center developers plan to invest approximately US$3 trillion to build roughly 3,146 data centers across the U.S. between January 2026 and December 2030. The states with the greatest dollar value of proposed data center construction over this five-year period are Texas, Virginia, Ohio and Georgia.

Industrial Info Resources does not expect all of those scheduled capital projects to move forward according to their respective construction schedules. But the size of the planned build-out appears to be unprecedented, amounting to about 10% of planned worldwide industrial project spending in all industries tracked by Industrial Info Resources.

The planned capital spending juggernaut shows no sign of slowing down. Big Tech firms and data center developers have reportedly committed to investing more than $700 billion in U.S. data center campuses this year, an 81% increase over 2025, according to companies' first-quarter earnings calls. For more on that, see May 6, 2026, article - Actual, Planned Capital Investments in U.S. Data Centers Soar.

The U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, a branch of the Department of Commerce, said that $47 billion was invested in data centers in the first quarter of this year, continuing a lengthy string of steadily rising investment.

U.S. planned data center construction kickoffs look strong at the start of the third quarter, with an estimated $204 billion in project construction starts slated to begin during the July-September period. For more on that, see June 30, 2026, article - U.S. Q3 Data Center Kickoffs Drive Billions in Project Spending.

By the Numbers

• 3,146: Number of U.S. data centers scheduled to begin construction between January 2026 and December 2030
• $3 trillion: Total investment value of those planned data centers
• 70%: The percentage of people, according to some polls, who oppose construction of data centers in their communities
• 15: Number of state legislatures that have or are considering enacting a temporary pause on data center construction
• $65 million or more: The amount AI-related PACs and Super PACs have spent to influence political races across the U.S., according to a data center watchdog group.

Data Centers Widely Opposed

For all the announced capital spending plans, data centers have proven to be widely unpopular across the U.S., in Red and Blue states. From ruby-red Georgia, Oklahoma and Utah to deep blue New York, Minnesota and Colorado, opponents have held large public demonstrations against proposed projects.

According to Axios, lawmakers in at least 15 states have considered bills to pause new data center construction until panels can assess the impacts those proposed facilities could have on electricity prices, water use, land use and the environment. Various public opinion surveys have shown rising levels of opposition to data centers, with some showing opposition to local data center construction nearly doubling, to about 70%, in less than one year.

The New York Times reported that there are more than 100 proposed moratoria at the local, county, state and national levels. U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) introduced bills earlier this year to immediately pause construction or expansion of data centers across the nation until "strong national safeguards" are in place to ensure that AI is "safe and effective; the economic gains of AI and robotics will benefit workers; and AI does not increase electricity or utility prices, harm communities or hurt the environment," according to a joint statement by Sanders and Ocasio-Cortez.

The Times added that a "furious debate" over building AI data centers has helped to tip races in Alabama, Missouri, Wisconsin and beyond. In April, voters in Festus, Missouri, ousted four city council members who supported a planned $6 billion data center. That same month, voters in Menomonie, Wisconsin, elected a new mayor who campaigned on his opposition to data centers.

Maine's legislature became the first to approve a bill pausing construction of new data centers, but Maine's outgoing governor vetoed it and the lawmakers did not have the votes to overcome that veto. For more on that, see May 4, 2026, article - Maine Lawmakers Fail to Override Governor's Veto of Bill Pausing Data Center Construction.

On June 4, New York state became the latest state legislature to pass a bill pausing the construction of data centers. Industrial Info Resources is tracking the planned construction of 21 data centers across New York, valued at slightly over $26 billion, between 2026 and 2030. New York Governor Kathy Hochul (D) has until December to decide whether she wants to sign or veto that bill. Unlike Maine, the New York measure passed both houses of the state legislature with large, possibly veto-proof majorities. For more on that, see June 7, 2026, article - New York Lawmakers Pass One-Year Permitting Ban for New Data Centers.

Last month, a powerful Utah GOP state lawmaker was defeated in a primary challenge over his support for data centers. J. Stuart Adams, a Utah State Senator since 2009 and the State Senate President for nearly eight years, was defeated in a surprise vote by challenger Stephanie Hollist. During the campaign, Hollist criticized Adams for his support for a huge planned data center backed by television's "Shark Tank" host Kevin O'Leary.

The size of that proposed facility was cut in half last week after residents and Utah politicians came out against it, Bloomberg News reported.

Across the country, a sitting New York State Democratic legislator, Alex Bores, last month narrowly lost his congressional primary race another state legislator, Micah Lasher, over data centers. Bores, who lost by four percentage points to the heavily favored Lasher, wants tighter controls over data center construction. AI interest groups poured tens of millions of dollars into that race.

And in Texas, Republican Governor Greg Abbott, a longtime enthusiastic supporter of data centers, called for a ban on building them in rural parts of the Lone Star State. "We must prohibit them from building AI data centers in rural Texas neighborhoods," Abbott said at an East Texas campaign rally last week, according to a report in the Texas Tribune.

This turnaround for the GOP governor followed the enactment of a data center ban by the city of San Marcos. The ban, which may be challenged, rested on the city's ability to control local land use through zoning regulations.

Here Comes the Money: PACs Enter Data Center Fray

Last month, a non-profit tech research organization, the Tech Oversight Project, launched a tracker of 17 Big Tech political action committees (PACs) around AI and data centers. To date, it said those PACs have spent over $65 million to influence federal and state elections across the country. By a 2-to-1 margin, that spending went against Democrats, who generally favor pausing, limiting or banning data centers.

The organization is tracking political giving by groups with innocuous-sounding names such as Leading the Future; Think Big; American Mission; Build American AI; Public First; Public First Action; Jobs and Democracy; and Defending Our Values. Those and other groups have been funded by Google, Meta, OpenAI, Palantir, Anthropic and other Big Tech companies.

In a June 26 statement, Sacha Haworth, executive director of The Tech Oversight Project, said: "Big Tech's AI super PACs are spending a gargantuan amount of money on our elections because they want to write the rules in their favor. If the American people had their way, Big Tech would be footing the true cost of data centers; chatbots would have guardrails to protect vulnerable people of all ages; and workers would have the choice to use artificial intelligence instead of being surveilled and eventually replaced by it."

Key Takeaways

• Plans to build new data centers continue to grow across the U.S.
• A rising share of the population, as much as 70%, say they oppose construction of data centers in their communities
• Big Tech companies such as Meta, Google, Anthropic, Palantir, OpenAI and Proplexity, are making contributions to political action committees to influence federal, state and local elections across the country on the topic of data centers and AI.

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About Industrial Info Resources
Industrial Info Resources (IIR) is the leading provider of industrial market intelligence. Since 1983, IIR has provided comprehensive research, news and analysis on the industrial process, manufacturing and energy related industries. IIR's Global Market Intelligence (GMI) helps companies identify and pursue trends across multiple markets with access to real, qualified and validated plant and project opportunities. Across the world, Industrial Info Resources is tracking over 250,000 current and future projects worth $30.2 trillion (USD).