Republicans are sharpening their opposition to data centers after their party’s Senate campaign arm reportedly warned that public hostility toward the facilities could cost the GOP a crucial election in Ohio and spread to races across the country. The responses ranged from Michigan Senate candidate Mike Rogers calling for a one-year statewide moratorium to Representative Tom Barrett attacking “big tech billionaires” and introducing legislation designed to preserve local control over data-center development. Texas Governor Greg Abbott, meanwhile, publicized an earlier directive that paused the progress of projects seeking access to the state power grid.
The burst of Republican messaging comes as polling indicates that public opinion has moved rapidly against the enormous server facilities powering the artificial intelligence boom. The private National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) memo, first reported by Axios on Wednesday, warned AI companies that negative perceptions of data centers were damaging Senator Jon Husted’s reelection campaign in Ohio. Ohio has emerged as a leading location for AI data center development, and former Senator Sherrod Brown has put opposition to those facilities at the center of his campaign against Husted, the memo reportedly said, arguing that the issue resonates with voters.
The NRSC described the race as a “dead heat” and called data centers “the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck,” according to an ABC News report on the memo. Robinson Meyer, executive editor of Heatmap News, said Thursday on X that polling conducted over the past year showed opposition rising dramatically. On Thursday, Rogers called for a one-year moratorium on new data centers in Michigan while state policymakers establish new rules.
He stopped short of supporting a nationwide prohibition, according to The Detroit News. In a July interview, Rogers said data centers should face grid and environmental rules but that communities willing to host them should be allowed to do so and should receive a direct benefit, Politico noted. Newsweek contacted a spokesperson for Rogers for comment via email on Friday.
Meanwhile, Representative Tom Barrett, a Michigan Republican running for reelection in a competitive House district, shared an advertisement Wednesday on X framing himself as willing to break with his own party over data-center subsidies. Some critics have argued that Barrett’s latest message is inconsistent with his broader record on data centers. The messaging was prompted by conversations with people in his district, he said, adding that he believed the decision around data center siting should be done at the local level, respecting local control and decision-making.
Barrett also pointed Newsweek to new legislative action he introduced Thursday, the Protecting Local Control of Data Centers Act, which would prohibit federal agencies from overriding state and local zoning, siting and permitting decisions. The measure would also prevent agencies from using federal funding to pressure local governments into surrendering their authority. A second proposal, the No Data Center NDAs Act, would prohibit members of Congress from entering nondisclosure agreements covering proposed data-center locations and their expected water or electricity consumption.
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