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Ohio has emerged as ground zero in the growing political fight over the massive data centers powering America’s AI boom, with voters across the state set to weigh in on the industry’s rapid expansion this November.
Voters will decide 20 data center-related ballot measures across 17 Ohio jurisdictions — more than half of the 34 measures appearing on ballots nationwide — putting the battleground state at the center of a debate over the sprawling facilities’ impact on power, water and local communities.
The fight is also colliding with Ohio’s closely watched Senate race, where data centers have become a campaign issue as President Donald Trump pushes the multibillion-dollar buildout as critical to keeping the U.S. ahead in the global race for artificial intelligence power.
Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, led the Senate push to pass the Ratepayer Protection Act, which would make data centers pay for the power and infrastructure they require rather than pushing it off to American taxpayers. This effort further underscored the importance of the scale of the issue in Ohio ahead of the midterm elections.
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Sen. Jon Husted and former Sen. Sherrod Brown will face off in a highly anticipated Senate race in Ohio in November. (Getty Images)
Democratic Senate challenger Sherrod Brown — who served as a senator in Ohio from 2007 to 2025 — has attacked Husted over data center development, and Trump has defended the Republican’s stance while campaigning for him.
“Look, there’s so much money to be made for Ohio, you can’t just turn them off,” the president said.
Across the country, voters will decide 34 data center-related ballot measures in seven states — California, Florida, Illinois, Kansas, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin — as the once-obscure infrastructure behind America’s AI ambitions becomes an increasingly potent political issue.
A Fox News national poll conducted last month found voters struggling to reconcile AI’s potential benefits with the economic and environmental costs of the data centers that power the technology.
More than seven in 10 voters (71%) opposed building AI data centers in their area, including 46% who strongly opposed them. More than half (52%) supported building them in remote locations, while 44% opposed.
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Overall, 60% of voters had a negative view of AI, compared with 37% who viewed it positively. That 23-point gap has more than doubled since a July Fox News poll.
The Fox News poll also found a partisan divide over AI and data centers. Voters with favorable views of AI leaned Republican, while those with unfavorable views leaned Democratic.
The divide was even sharper over data centers, with Republicans performing better among voters who supported them and Democrats among those who opposed them.
That partisan split comes as AI policy emerges as a growing fault line in Washington and on the campaign trail.
Trump has opposed wide-ranging federal regulation of the AI industry and warned that the U.S. cannot allow China to win the technology race.
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Texas Gov. Greg Abbott recently ordered a pause on new data center permits pending a statewide audit of their impact on the power grid and water supplies. (Jason Fochtman/Houston Chronicle via Getty Images)
But as the midterms approach, the debate over AI and the data centers powering it is playing out in races across the country.
In Texas, Republican Gov. Greg Abbott, who previously courted major tech investments, recently ordered a pause on data center permitting and grid connections pending an audit. Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa has supported temporary moratoriums.
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Meanwhile, in the state’s Senate race, Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton and Democratic state Rep. James Talarico have battled over tax breaks for the industry.