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‘People really effing hate data centers’: How the AI buildout became the midterms’ affordability issue
Abdul El-Sayed, Sherrod Brown and Amy Acton all campaigned against data centers, and even some Republicans moved their way.
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Several Tuesday winners tied rising power bills to AI data centers. Michigan's Senate victor Abdul El-Sayed, projected by NBC News, proposed no rate increases and asked data center operators to cover their own power demand. In Ohio, Democrat Sherrod Brown beat Republican Jon Husted by spotlighting deals Husted had helped shape as lieutenant governor. Capacity charges on the PJM grid, which serves 13 states, rose from $28.92 to $329.17 per megawatt-day between 2024-25 and 2026-27. An independent monitor estimated data centers drove 63% of one auction's increase. Fourteen or more Ohio municipalities enacted limits on data centers Tuesday. The Ohio Manufacturers' Association disputes that the facilities are driving up energy costs.
Why it matters: The results suggest electricity costs tied to the AI buildout are becoming a political issue that voters and local governments are weighing.
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