Data Centers, Not American Rule of Law, Center of Midterms

Data centers are all the rage in the 2026 midterm election cycle. Whether a candidate currently supports or has previously supported data centers and corporate subsidies for AI and tech companies has quickly become a potent attack line in several high-profile races across the country.

In two swing-state Senate races, data centers have become a massive issue, leaving several candidates vulnerable to attacks resurfacing their tech-friendly pasts.

Former Democratic Ohio Sen. Sherrod Brown, who once celebrated Amazon Web Services’ investments in Ohio, has attempted to portray his opponent, incumbent Republican Sen. Jon Husted, as “the face of data centers.” Brown has flooded the airwaves with millions of dollars of ads targeting Husted’s previous support for data center tax breaks while he served as Ohio’s lieutenant governor. Husted is now going after data centers and AI companies, accusing them of doing “a terrible job of talking about the value and virtue of it.”

“They’ve earned that backlash,” Husted said in late July. “They haven’t been as forthcoming about the benefits that will come in terms of local jobs and construction worker jobs and reduced property taxes, and they haven’t offered things like paying the energy bills for local communities, for the power plants they build.”