{"id":1558,"date":"2026-08-19T21:09:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-19T21:09:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1558"},"modified":"2026-08-19T21:09:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-19T21:09:19","slug":"gop-begs-ai-firms-to-fix-data-centers-toxic-brand-to-help-midterm-chances","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1558","title":{"rendered":"GOP Begs AI Firms to Fix Data Centers\u2019 \u201cToxic Brand\u201d to Help Midterm Chances"},"content":{"rendered":"
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The Republicans\u2019 Senate campaign committee has begged AI companies to take action against the public\u2019s hatred of data centers because supporting them has become a major drag on Republican midterm campaigns.<\/p>\n

Axios<\/em> first reported on a leaked memo sent by the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) on Tuesday. In the memo, the group says that the backing of data centers has become an \u201canchor\u201d on the campaign of GOP Senate candidate Jon Husted in Ohio \u2014 and that Republican campaigns in other states are going to be affected, too, if public perception doesn\u2019t change.<\/p>\n

\u201cCampaigns or party committees can not fix the toxic brand of an entire segment of the economy. The companies that need these projects built have to fix how Ohioans see them: who benefits, who pays, and why a community should want one. Until that happens, the issue will continue to dominate this race,\u201d the memo says.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf it is still this potent in November, elected officials everywhere will treat Ohio as their reason to work against data centers in the future. If voters\u2019 perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio,\u201d the NRSC goes on.<\/p>\n

The committee says that Americans are \u201cstill making up their minds\u201d on the issue and that candidates should focus on ideas like making sure data centers pay for their own utilities to combat proposals of a moratorium increasingly embraced by some Democratic and progressive candidates.<\/p>\n

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Data centers \u2014 which are springing up everywhere amid tech firms\u2019 AI race \u2014 have indeed emerged as a top issue in this election cycle, showing up in candidates\u2019 platforms in nearly every state.<\/p>\n

Gallup polling in May found that 70 percent of Americans oppose having a data center built in their area to support AI. Politico<\/em> found in July that nearly half of voters say they\u2019d be more likely to vote for a candidate who said they would impose a moratorium on data center construction. <\/p>\n

Grassroots campaigns against data centers have emerged in nearly every single state in the U.S., with at least 75 data center projects having been blocked or delayed in the first three months of 2026 alone. Campaigners cite concerns about data centers causing hellish noise pollution; using up massive amounts of water and electricity, raising utility rates; and fueling AI projects that support surveillance and other government harms \u2014 all while creating very few permanent jobs, acting as a leech on the local economy.<\/p>\n

Backing the projects, as the NRSC noted, is becoming politically toxic. Progressive candidates who are running on opposing data center development like Abdul El-Sayed are exceeding expectations and overcoming major political spending. Democratic and Republican candidates who support them \u2014 often backed by corporate funding and citing competitiveness with China \u2014 are facing attacks based on their support of the projects.<\/p>\n

The NRSC writes that these attacks are working. Brown has repeatedly highlighted Husted\u2019s backing of data centers on the campaign trail, taking out numerous ads showcasing Husted as the \u201cface of data centers\u201d in the state. In turn, Brown has been trending upwards in polls, including a Fox News<\/em> survey that found Brown to be up eight points to Husted, though many pollsters have rated the race as a tossup in the typically red state.<\/p>\n

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Supporting data centers has become an \u201canchor\u201d on the Republican Senate campaign in Ohio, the NRSC says.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1558","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-interesting"],"yoast_head":"\nGOP Begs AI Firms to Fix Data Centers\u2019 \u201cToxic Brand\u201d to Help Midterm Chances - Smart Moving Home<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/smartmovinghome.com\/?p=1558\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"GOP Begs AI Firms to Fix Data Centers\u2019 \u201cToxic Brand\u201d to Help Midterm Chances - 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