Data centres become a campaign issue for both parties in US midterms

Data centres have become a campaign issue for candidates in both US parties ahead of November’s midterm elections, RTÉ reported on 9 October 2026. Candidates are addressing concerns about proposed facilities, while a Pew Research Center survey shows Americans have grown more negative about their possible effects on the environment, household energy costs and nearby communities.

RTÉ reported that candidates for Congress were using targeted advertising and calling for moratoriums, safety measures and greater transparency around data centre projects. Those are campaign positions, rather than evidence that any particular proposal has become law. The reporting also showed why the issue can divide a community even when concern crosses party lines: residents may weigh environmental and land-use worries against local tax revenue.

How data centres entered state campaigns

In Texas, Democratic candidate for governor Gina Hinojosa accused Republican Governor Greg Abbott of being too sympathetic to data centres, according to RTÉ. Abbott endorsed an audit of development while the state studies its impact, the broadcaster reported. The accusation is Hinojosa’s campaign position; the reported audit is a separate response by the governor.

RTÉ also described data centres as one of Ohio’s most contentious issues this year and reported that the leading candidates for governor both wanted to regulate them. The examples show candidates from different parties addressing construction, although they do not establish that those candidates agree on the same rules or on how much development should continue.

What the national survey found

Pew Research Center surveyed 10,548 US adults from 20 July to 9 August through its American Trends Panel. Its findings describe public opinion before RTÉ’s October campaign report; they are not a count of votes or a measure of the actual environmental and economic effects of data centres.

In Pew’s comparison with January, the share saying data centres were mostly bad for the environment rose from 39% to 54%. The share saying they were mostly bad for home energy costs rose from 38% to 50%, while the share saying they were mostly bad for the quality of life of nearby residents rose from 30% to 49%. Those changes give a measurable basis for describing concern as growing this year.

Pew found that 60% would be not too comfortable or not at all comfortable with a new data centre operating in their area. That response included 54% of Republicans and Republican-leaning adults and 68% of Democrats and Democratic-leaning adults. Democrats were more negative overall, but discomfort with a nearby facility was present in both groups.

Views of local economic effects were less settled. Pew reported that 24% considered data centres mostly bad for local jobs and 22% considered them mostly good. On local tax revenue, 21% said mostly bad and 22% said mostly good. Depending on the effect asked about, between 18% and 32% were unsure. The survey therefore does not support treating every possible local impact as a settled public judgment.

Why Loudoun County shows the trade-offs

RTÉ’s interviews in Loudoun County, Virginia, put competing views alongside one another. The county hosts around 250 data centres, RTÉ reported, and the broadcaster said they were expected to generate about $1 billion in tax revenue this year. Residents it interviewed raised worries about water use and environmental impacts. One resident, Len, said the facilities helped keep property taxes down, while also questioning whether the county needed more.

Another Loudoun resident, Josh, told RTÉ that a politician’s position on data centres would affect his vote in November. He wanted limits on additional facilities because he believed the area had reached saturation. His account illustrates one voter’s stated priority; it cannot establish how other Loudoun residents, or voters nationally, will cast their ballots.

The question for the approaching elections is whether the growing concern recorded by Pew and the campaign responses reported by RTÉ will translate into votes or changes in policy. Neither source establishes an election outcome. The available evidence supports a narrower conclusion: data centre development is now being contested in campaigns by candidates in both parties, while Americans remain divided or uncertain about some of its local economic effects.