Senate Republicans are sounding the alarm that one of their seats is at stake due to artificial intelligence data centers, adding this could cause lawmakers to be wary of supporting such contentious projects in the future.
In the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s memo to top AI companies, the campaign arm cautioned that the political ramifications could extend beyond GOP Sen. Jon Husted’s seat in Ohio.
“If voters’ perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio,” the letter, dated Tuesday, reads.
Mr. Husted is locked in a quarrelsome race against former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who has spent millions of dollars on an ad campaign calling the incumbent “the face of data centers in Ohio.”
“More than any other thing in this race, data centers are the anchor hanging around Husted’s neck,” the memo reads. “If he loses and data centers get the blame, politicians across the country will take notice — and they will not go near the next one.”
The NRSC is calling on AI companies to improve perceptions of data centers, because campaigns and party committees can’t fix the “toxic brand of an entire segment of the economy.”
The memo adds, “The companies that need these projects built have to fix how Ohioans see them: who benefits, who pays, and why a community should want one. Until that happens, the issue will continue to dominate this race. If it is still this potent in November, elected officials everywhere will treat Ohio as their reason to work against data centers in the future.”
Public backlash to energy-hungry AI hubs has indeed become a major political vulnerability for Republicans in Ohio.
Recent polling shows bipartisan voter concern in the Buckeye State regarding the environmental footprint and potential utility rate increases tied to data center expansion.
OpenAI and Nvidia both announced a massive 20-year lease agreement for an 8-gigawatt campus, Meta is developing the large-scale data center, and infrastructure firms Vantage and QTS also have significant data center projects underway across the state.
Ohio isn’t the only place feeling the heat.
Surveys show widespread public opposition to the rapid construction of artificial intelligence data centers in local communities, driven primarily by fear over soaring electricity and water usage.
A May Gallup poll found that 7 in 10 Americans oppose having a data center built in their area.
For the first time, a majority of adults under 30 say they’re more concerned than excited about AI, on par with those in their 30s and 40s and those 65 and up, according to Pew Research Center.
Meanwhile, AI companies and tech executives have poured tens of millions of dollars into federal and state races to shape future AI laws.
Mr. Husted and his Democratic opponent are in a “dead heat,” according to NRSC’s private polling.
The NRSC memo, first reported by Axios, contends that “the American people are still making up their minds on data centers, but the current perception is negative.
“Sherrod Brown has made data centers the centerpiece of his campaign, yet Ohio is still a toss-up. If Husted loses because of data centers, the industry will be blamed, and elected officials or other parties will learn a cautionary lesson.”
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