Democrats Look To Use Data Centers As Political Football In Midterm Dogfight

Democrats aim to direct growing anti-data center sentiment towards Republicans as the November midterm elections draw near.

Democrats hope to seize anti-data center sentiment to attack Republicans who voted to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA), President Donald Trump’s signature legislation this Congress. The legislation expanded the Opportunity Zone program, which encourages more investment in economically distressed areas.

Opportunity Zones were first established by the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and data centers have become a growing part of those Opportunity Zones. Polling shows Americans overwhelmingly reject data center construction in their neighborhoods.

Seventy-one percent of Americans either strongly or somewhat oppose local construction of data centers, a May Gallup poll found. Seventy-five percent of Americans either strongly or somewhat disapprove of data centers near their homes, while only 15% strongly or somewhat approve of them, according to an August Heatmap poll.

Democrats hope to tie Americans’ dislike of data centers to Republican policy that may push for the advancement of these technology warehouses in their neighborhoods.

However, this means that data centers might be one of the beneficiaries of this expanded provision in the OBBBA, which Democrats hope to take advantage of so close to the November midterm elections.

“Every single House Republican but one or two voted to unleash data centers on the American people in an unfettered fashion,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said during a press conference on Monday, per Politico.

“A year ago, Republicans were bragging about giving tax breaks to Big Tech in order to build data centers. With November on the horizon, some House Republicans are acting as if they did not turbocharge the data center buildout,” Massachusetts Democrat Rep. Jim McGovern, said on Tuesday on the House floor.

Republicans have appeared to brush off these attacks, saying Opportunity Zones were designed for much more than data centers.