November 6, 2026, 5:40 p.m. ET
Data center developers are pivoting in response to voters’ decisive criticism of the industry during the midterm elections, preparing for federal regulations on AI that the new Congress has promised to establish.
“The midterm elections provide very uncertain terrain for the extent to which data center developers will be able to move forward with their plans to accelerate construction,” said Nicol Turner Lee, director of the Brookings Institution’s Center for Technology Innovation.
The United States saw an increase of 911 data center projects between 2016 and 2026, with 571 more under construction, according to Cleanview, a data center development tracking organization. Part of this exponential increase was intended to meet the needs of growing AI companies.
Without federal regulation, cities and states have adopted local limitations such as moratoriums or community benefits agreements. The midterm elections, however, brought to power politicians who campaigned on the promise of federal legislation that would force AI companies to slow down or change how they implement new projects.
Newly elected governors could suspend up to 41% of planned data centers in the United States, according to an analysis by Cleanview. But the legislation doesn’t mean data center development will stop overnight.
“I think AI companies are obviously going to recalibrate their strategy, given the likelihood of more regulatory constraints on data center development,” Lee told USA TODAY.
She expects the projects to continue “because it’s the only way we can meet the growing demand for AI and other forms of computing,” or the processing power needed for AI. “I don’t think they’re going to disappear.”
So how are developers reacting?
OpenAI has started rebranding data centers as “computing campuses.” After the election, the company released a “National Community Compact” pledging to publish construction plans, provide information on community impacts and not resort to nondisclosure agreements with public officials.
“Voters delivered an overwhelming message about data centers this week, and it is up to industry stakeholders to hear that message and respond by building AI infrastructure in ways that benefit both individual communities and the country as a whole,” Dean Ball, OpenAI’s head of strategic futures, wrote in a Nov. 5 X article.
OpenAI’s only active data center is in Texas, where Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa has said she plans to impose a moratorium until the state legislature sets new guidelines. Currently permitted data centers will be able to complete construction in Texas based on Hinojosa’s proposal.
“Communities have been completely reasonable and transparent about their concerns across the country,” Lee said. “It’s no secret what they’re worried about, so this is an opportunity for developers to pay attention.”
Meta President Dina Powell McCormick told the Wall Street Journal that the industry hasn’t done a good enough job of explaining the benefits of data centers. She said Meta would have an easier time expanding existing data centers rather than building new ones because of the midterm elections.
Meta has active developments in 23 different states, including Texas and Ohio. Ohio saw 18 communities approve limitations on data center development at the midpoint. One of those communities was Piqua, Ohio, where a Meta data center is being planned. The city has banned all data centers within its boundaries.
“We are proud of our investments in Ohio and will work with local officials to determine the future of our investment in Piqua,” a company spokesperson told USA TODAY.
Meta has met with elected officials to discuss data centers — including a governor who has not been named — McCormick told the Journal.
Ben Green, an assistant professor of information and public policy at the University of Michigan, said he was skeptical of some claims made by AI companies regarding community agreements and data centers.
“They’ve been making efforts to reposition themselves as good, responsible managers and thinking about the future of data centers,” he told USA TODAY. “They’re trying to find new ways to suddenly reinsert themselves into the conversation with this sort of aura of responsibility. »
What happens when a moratorium ends?
In the period of uncertainty before federal legislation is passed, moratoriums have become one of the most popular actions local communities can take against AI.
Moratoriums act as temporary bans on development. More than 440 data center moratoriums are in effect across the United States, and 34 states have considered moratorium bills, according to a moratorium tracker maintained by Interconnected Capital.
“Moratoriums buy you time, and then you want to use that time to put in place stronger enforcement or make a more thoughtful collective decision about whether we want data centers and under what conditions? » said Green.
Most communities are counting on federal legislation to pass when the moratorium ends. Many candidates have promised to impose limits on data centers if elected or have portrayed their opponents as being in the pocket of big tech.
Minnesota Rep.-elect Matt Little, for example, has pushed to ban data center construction and nondisclosure agreements nationally. In Michigan, Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed set “conditions of engagement” for his state’s data centers, including water protection, job guarantees and community benefits.
In Ohio, Democratic Sen.-elect Sherrod Brown said he would require data centers to pay the full cost of their utilities, calling his Republican opponent John Husted the “face of data centers.”
But “really, getting a moratorium or ban passed is a different matter than campaigning for it,” Green said.
The patchwork of local and state measures that have emerged in the absence of federal policy has contributed to inconsistent restrictions on the AI industry, Lee said.
But even though the new Congress will likely demand reforms and protections from taxpayers’ taxes, Lee said, “we don’t want to see a lot of preemption of existing laws that have been developed by states that are aggressively protecting their communities from potential harm that could come from a data center.” »
The broader AI landscape
Data centers have been around for decades and serve as warehouses for accessing and analyzing information stored in the cloud, but opposition to them is more recent and linked to AI.
NBC News exit polls found that 56% of voters said AI and data centers were a “crucial or major factor” in their vote. Seventy-six percent said they would oppose the construction of new data centers in their communities.
“Data centers have become – naturally and by design – a proxy for concerns about affordability, corporate power, and the loss of control of communities to special interests. Opposing them offers a tangible way to resist a technology that otherwise seems impossible to slow down,” acknowledged Chris Lehane, OpenAI’s director of global affairs, in a post-election blog post.
Green expects that new data center projects will face a more difficult start-up environment, and that ongoing projects will be subject to increased monitoring and transparency requirements.
“There is something quite remarkable about seeing so many ballot measures where huge majorities of voters express opposition to data centers and vote for candidates who have expressed a lot of opposition to AI,” he said.
However, Lee added: “I think the midterms suggest that people just don’t know enough about what data centers do and why they’re linked to the AI economy. »
The slowdown in development could affect more than just developers. Two days after the election, the Nasdaq fell in part due to investor concerns about AI. There has been a lot of capital investment in the data center boom over the past two years, so a rapid change in investment will have a “ripple effect” on the economy, according to Lee.
“We’ll certainly have to be careful about how to proceed with this market … in a way that doesn’t disrupt the economy,” she said.
Moving forward, Lee emphasized the need to “monitor how AI companies play in this sandbox in a way that addresses people’s ultimate concerns, which is that they just want more action in this conversation.”
Greta Reich covers the artificial intelligence industry for USA TODAY on a grant from the Tarbell Center for AI Journalism. Funders do not provide editorial input.
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