{"id":8513,"date":"2026-10-11T11:57:29","date_gmt":"2026-10-11T11:57:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8513"},"modified":"2026-10-11T11:57:29","modified_gmt":"2026-10-11T11:57:29","slug":"midterm-races-decide-data-centers-political-fate","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/silvybrand.com\/?p=8513","title":{"rendered":"These Midterm Races Will Decide Data Centers\u2019 Political Fate"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Welcome back to<\/span> Power Play<\/a>! Each week, senior writer Molly Taft tackles a topic around this midterm season\u2019s biggest issue: data centers. If you\u2019ve got a question or thought for the column, feel free to shoot Molly an email at [email\u00a0protected]<\/span><\/a> or reach them securely on Signal at mollytaft.76.<\/em><\/p>\n

From surveillance and DOGE to Big Tech money and religious extremism, the midterms have never been more WIRED<\/a>. Data centers are no exception: The public has rapidly turned on them since the beginning of the year.<\/p>\n

The opposition is bipartisan, with many Republicans making a rare break<\/a> from President Donald Trump<\/a>. Candidates on both sides of the aisle are trying to attack their opponents for being pro\u2013data center (or not anti\u2013data center enough). I\u2019ve spotted at least five candidates who have been given the derogatory \u201cData Center [Name]\u201d moniker by their opponents, in an attempt to highlight their connections to the industry. (That includes two<\/em> guys named Derek\/Derrick getting this treatment.)<\/p>\n

While polling shows that pocketbook issues are likely to be top of voters\u2019 minds, data centers are a potent-enough issue<\/a> that they could swing tight races\u2014and ultimately tip the balance of power in Congress. Here are some of the races WIRED is keeping an eye on as we approach November 3.<\/p>\n

Senate<\/p>\n

The National Republican Senatorial Committee issued a memo in August warning that Democrat Sherrod Brown, running for Senate in Ohio<\/strong>, was hitting his opponent, Senator Jon Husted, so hard on data centers that it could tip the outcome of the race, calling it \u201ca sleeper issue for the entire election cycle.\u201d Brown has called Husted \u201cthe face of data centers in Ohio,\u201d running ads<\/a> that blame Husted for welcoming data centers to the state and driving energy bills up.<\/p>\n

Senate Democrats have taken up Brown\u2019s cause, torpedoing a bill sponsored by Husted and modeled after the White House\u2019s ratepayer protection pledge<\/a>, with Minority Leader Chuck Schumer calling the bill \u201ctoothless.\u201d<\/p>\n

Data centers have also seeped into many other toss-up Senate races, including in Michigan, Iowa,<\/strong> and Texas<\/strong>. But the Ohio race is still the top one to watch here.<\/p>\n

House<\/p>\n

All 435 seats in the House are up for grabs, and data centers have become flash points in dozens of races across the country. Among races labeled toss-ups<\/a> by the Cook Political Report, I found numerous examples of candidates running data-center-related ads:<\/p>\n