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- Data centers are becoming the political flash point of the midterms as candidates race to respond to tanking public opinion.
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asserted
candidates → click → opinion
A company’s pitch for small-scale data centers on fairgrounds has prompted outcry from some in Kings, Tulare and Ventura counties.
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pitch → prompt → counties
- Democrats opposing data centers say it’s an affordability issue, while Republicans juggle public backlash with Trump’s pro-AI support.
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Republicans → oppose → support
HANFORD, Calif. — Darian Orduno bounced her baby boy on her chest, looking down at his thick black hair and bright eyes.
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Orduno → bounce → hair
What might pollution from a data center do, she wondered, to his growing lungs?
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she → do → lungs
That question had brought Orduno, 25, to a community meeting opposing a possible data center here, and her fears, she said, likely would influence her vote in the midterm election too.
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she → bring → election
“I just had him, and now it’s concerning if he’s going to be able to grow up here,” Orduno said, or “if I’m going to have to relocate.”
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I → have → him
As about 100 residents filed into a church for the meeting in late August, under a Central Valley sky hazy with air pollution, many shared the same worries — that a facility pitched for the local fairgrounds could further worsen the area’s air quality and strain its water supply.
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facility → file → supply
Nationwide, such concerns are fueling a backlash to data centers from both the left and the right as tech companies flood the country with thousands of proposals for the facilities in nearly every state from California to Maine.
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companies → fuel → Maine
Data centers have become an unusually bipartisan flash point in the midterm elections, as candidates race to delineate policy platforms and respond to public opinion.
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candidates → become → opinion
The issue stands to influence swing voters and motivate turnout at the polls.
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issue → stand → polls
Here in the 22nd District, home to the state’s most competitive congressional race, how significantly the issue will affect voters’ decisions remains to be seen.
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issue → affect → decisions
But one thing is clear: Anxiety about data centers is mounting.
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Anxiety → mount → centers
“It’s a national concern, it’s now a state concern, and now it’s bled into the local concern,” Hanford Mayor Mark Kairis said.
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Kairis → ’ → concern
“It’s a very emotionally charged issue right now.”
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It → ’ → ?
Demand for data centers, which house the computer systems powering artificial intelligence and the internet, has surged as AI use has ballooned.
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use → house → intelligence
As of April, more than 1,500 new data centers were in development across the United States, according to a Pew Research Center analysis, largely in rural areas.
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centers → accord → areas
The centers require intense cooling, which often demands high water and power use and creates the potential to affect the environment and to pass on utility costs to consumers.
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which → require → consumers
But they power technology that is becoming increasingly integrated into American business.
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that → power → business
They also create jobs, though with limitations.
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They → create → limitations
Democrats see the data center uproar as fitting into their affordability messaging, and candidates generally agree data centers should be regulated, though their positions vary on how aggressively.
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positions → see → messaging
For Republicans, whose party has backed AI innovation, responding to worsening public opinion has been trickier — particularly given President Trump’s championing of AI and data centers.
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responding → back → AI
Vice President JD Vance on Thursday acknowledged negative polling on data centers but framed the issue as a question of American industrial dominance, saying the country can’t shy away from development.
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country → acknowledge → development
Earlier in the week, Trump asserted that the only reason communities should reject data centers is if they want to be “backwards and poor.”
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they → assert → centers
The public may see data centers as a physical manifestation of AI advancement in general, said Camille Crittenden, executive director of the Center for Information Technology Research in the Interest of Society, a University of California research center.
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Crittenden → see → California
Opposing data centers offers people a way to vent their broader concerns about the technology’s increasing dominance.
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Opposing → oppose → dominance
“This is a very specific focal point for a general anxiety about AI,” she said.
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she → say → AI
“People see these data centers, and they’re thinking, ‘AI’s going to take my job.’
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AI → see → job
The backlash from residents in the Central Valley to the possibility of even a small-scale data center demonstrates how acutely the issue has put many Americans on edge.
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issue → demonstrate → edge
“It really is terrifying,” said Lucy Gomez, 57, of Hanford, a retired teacher.
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Gomez → say → Hanford
“I feel like we’re being guinea pigs when we don’t want to be.”
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we → feel → ?
Increasing influence
Community anger about the facilities has prompted close attention from California lawmakers, who passed legislation in Sacramento on Monday to regulate energy use by the data center industry and impose other requirements.
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who → increase → requirements
California is home to the third-most data centers of any state, though it has experienced a relatively smaller new boom because of its high electrical prices and other factors.
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it → experience → prices
Still, 54 new facilities were in the works for the state as of April, according to Pew.
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facilities → accord → Pew
In Georgia and Pennsylvania, New York and Texas, Nevada and Virginia, the issue has become hot-button in elections at all levels.
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issue → become → levels
Ads about data centers run on the airwaves in states with key congressional races.
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Ads → run → races
Gubernatorial candidates jockey over it; both New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, a Republican, put temporary moratoriums on new data centers.
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Hochul → jockey → centers
A memo from the Republican senatorial campaign arm underscored how critical the question was becoming last month, when it warned AI companies that data centers could be the deciding issue in the close race between Ohio GOP Sen. Jon Husted and former Sen. Sherrod Brown, his Democratic challenger.
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centers → underscore → Husted
Data centers “are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck,” said the memo, which was first obtained by Axios.
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which → hang → Axios
“If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one.”
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they → lose → one
…and 24 more, not listed.
