While he did not originate the phrase, Tip O’Neill is the person most associated with “All politics are local.” As an absolutism, it was never true. It certainly is not now. Affordability, the quality and equality of healthcare, wars, and many other national flashpoints are affecting the elections throughout the country, but the political truism always does have some merit. Some issues, such as the border and immigration enforcement, have more traction in one place than another. And it also holds true for data centers, which may be of general concern in this country, but are a special focus in some electoral races.

Data centers are not so much a partisan issue as an anti-incumbent one. A mere year ago officeholders were flinging their arms open to data centers. The centers would bring construction jobs and some permanent ones into the county, district, or state with perhaps even an increase in the tax base. But then a grassroots opposition developed catching many of the public servants by surprise. Data centers have existed for a long time, and they had not produced a backlash. However, the politicians had not understood that the new centers were much different from the old ones. They are exponentially larger as the computing power needs of AI are exponentially larger than for routine internet uses. Snopes reports that a typical ChatGPT search uses nearly ten times the power of an average Google search. By some estimates electric demand of a typical data center is comparable to that of 25,000 private homes.

Economics tells us that more demand for a product increases prices. Some communities have seen large jumps in the cost of electricity, and voter-residents have blamed data centers for this trend. There are other causes of increased power demands besides the centers. Hotter summers due to global warming have brought more demand for air-conditioning, for example, but the centers in some localities have been a major driver of increased utility costs. This may force local electric companies to expand their facilities, but this is seldom an easy process. It often takes five or more years to generate new power. The expansion takes money, and if the tech companies do not pay for that expansion, it inevitably passes to all the users. For utility companies to satisfy the increased demand from data centers, they have already had to buy expensive peak-time power, which is more costly than it might otherwise be because of our aging and inefficient power grid system. Fears of possible brown outs in some localities because of data centers have spread. These are hot topics on many community social media sites.

Water is also of concern in the data center disputes. Computers generate heat, and the extraordinary computing powers of the so-called hypercenters produce immense amounts of heat, which must be dissipated. Doing so through air-conditioning would just tax the power grids even more. Instead, some centers are cooled by water, vast amounts of water, and the fear is this use will leave the communities where the centers are located with insufficient water. The tech companies respond that data centers will use less water than golf courses. This, perhaps, should make us question golf courses that do not recycle water, but in any event the statement is misleading. Golf courses are spread throughout the country, and their water use is widely dispersed. The sources of the water needed for the cooling are concentrated in the communities where they are located. Tech companies have prioritized data center construction in rural, low-tax regions with inexpensive real estate and often limited infrastructure. Fears are that streams will be sucked dry and that groundwater needed for wells will drop.

There are other concerns as well. The increased electricity demand increases the burning of fossil fuels with greenhouse gases and other pollution increasing. And the computers, cooling systems, and the back-up generators running 24/7 produce a constant noise that nearby residents say could drive a person crazy.

Some of the concerns about data centers, while very real, may be a particular form of American paranoia and overstated, but the paranoia has often been fed by the tech companies’ lack of transparency. Some vaguely promise that electric costs will be paid for by the companies and that water use will be limited by technologies that don’t yet exist.

Politicians who genuflected before data centers have tried to catch the bandwagon questioning the tech companies, raising questions about the leadership, perspicacity, and sincerity of the officeholders. For example, Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who less than a year ago, announced that Texas, with a vulnerable energy grid and a limited water supply, was to be an “epicenter” for AI and data centers, has now announced a moratorium on new data center approvals. Opposition to data centers has emerged quickly as an issue in many local and state elections and may affect who controls the Senate next year. Ohio is a case in point.

Jon Husted, the Republican incumbent Ohio Senator, is running for a new term. Husted had served extensively in state government and was serving as lieutenant governor when he was appointed to the Senate seat vacated by J.D. Vance upon Vance’s election to the vice presidency. As lieutenant governor, Husted pushed hard for data centers, assuring the people that they would bring jobs. He offered major tax incentives to tech companies. In 2026 Ohio became the fourth largest state in data center development with an expected $40 billion in investment contemplated through 2030. But as a result, Ohio voters saw their electricity bills increase often dramatically. Possibly in response, Senator Husted introduced the Ratepayer Protection Act that would require the tech companies themselves to cover the excess electricity costs. The bill died in the Senate.

Democrat Sherrod Brown, who was a 7-term member of the U.S. House of Representatives, then Senator from 2007-2025, is Husted’s opponent. Brown has run many anti-data center ads highlighting utility costs and “sweetheart tax breaks” to tech companies. He maintains that local communities should have veto power over whether centers are built in their neighborhoods. A leaked memo says that a Republican Senate Committee recognizes that Brown’s anti-data center messaging has gained traction with voters.

In what has been a red state, Brown leads in most polls, but narrowly. The race is rated a tossup. Stay tuned. Data centers may control who controls the Senate.