Trump’s midterm drubbing demonstrates the power of data center opponents

A view of a field with a sign against the construction of a data center, during the U.S. midterm elections on Election Day, in Leavenworth County, Kansas, on Nov. 3. | REUTERS

REUTERS

Nov 5, 2026

HONG KONG/LONDON – Data center opponents were among the biggest winners of the Democrats’ landslide victories in the U.S. midterm elections, pointing to a shifting public mood on artificial intelligence and, investors said, a possible slowdown of the boom that has propelled U.S. economic growth and stock markets.

The size and breadth of the Democratic wave were still coming into focus on Wednesday. But in gubernatorial races in Texas and Georgia, Democrats who campaigned in part on a moratorium on data center development won offices that the party has not held for decades.

Their victories hand political heft to opponents of the projects, which are at the heart of the AI boom but are loud, thirsty for water, hungry for electricity and increasingly unpopular with their neighbors, investors said.

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