Democrat Nabeela Syed wins Republican-held Illinois state senate seat

Democrat Nabeela Syed, who in 2022 became one of the first Muslims to serve in the Illinois General Assembly, has unseated a Republican to win a seat in the state's senate.

She secured 57 per cent of the vote compared to incumbent Republican Darby Hills, who won 43 per cent.

Ms Syed's victory comes on a historic election night during which Democrats across the country made inroads and unseated Republicans in a major rebuke of US President Donald Trump.

In the final weeks of her campaign in the 26th district of Illinois, Ms Syed appeared in a campaign advertisement in which she rode on an e-scooter and talked about concerns about AI data centres and taxes.

"Data centres consume enormous amounts of power, and the companies driving that demand should be the ones covering the cost of it," a statement on her campaign website read.

It added that Ms Syed believes that ultimately, the cost of data centres "should not be showing up in our electricity bills" – an issue that recent polling shows is increasingly important to US voters.

She stood behind Illinois Governor JB Pritzker, a fellow Democrat, when he signed a bill that he described as "the strongest AI safety accountability bill in the nation". She also endorsed his decision to pause tax incentives for new data centres amid mounting concern from residents in her district about the environmental impact, noise and other issues related to the projects.

Worries about Big Tech influence on policy coupled with concerns about the environmental impacts and energy consumption of data centres became a central part of her campaign against Republican incumbent Darby Hills.

Concerns about data centres became so prevalent that Ms Hills also began to campaign on holding data centre developers more accountable in the final weeks of her campaign.

Polling in recent months has shown that Democrats are more likely than Republicans to have concerns about AI and data centres. But they also show that some lifelong Republicans are dissatisfied with the proliferation of data centres throughout the country.

In general, Republican politicians have been less likely to be critical of data centres, which has caused them to lose ground with independent voters.

According to Axios, an internal Republican memo showed party leaders encouraging candidates in close races to try to shift their views on AI and data centres.

The proposed message focused ensuring voters are aware that data centres will only be built with the approval of local people and that the company pays for its own utility use, with an emphasis on the importance of the US winning the AI race over China.

In recent weeks, Mr Trump has said that he felt concerns about unregulated AI and fears about data centres were hoaxes.

Yet earlier in the year, his administration seemed keenly aware of the displeasure throughout the US as data centre construction was booming and electricity bills were rising.

In February, he promoted a largely non-binding ratepayer protection pledge in which Big Tech companies and data centre developers promise to provide electricity for their sites instead of taking from the existing grid.