Democrats’ midterm gains put US data centre boom under pressure

The National · Fadah Jassem · 2026-11-05 09:39 UTC

Democrats flipped governorships in states holding 37 per cent of America's planned data centre capacity.

The AI industry's biggest building boom now sits largely under US Democratic leadership, with incoming governors promising tougher restrictions and voters widely signalling approval of data centre measures offered to them in Tuesday's midterm elections.

Democrats flipped five governorships in Tuesday's elections: Texas, Georgia, Ohio, Iowa and Nevada. Together, those states hold 37 per cent of planned data centre capacity in the US, according to our analysis of data from Cleanview, which tracks data centre projects and capacity.

Texas accounts for the biggest share, with 22.8 per cent of planned US capacity. Its incoming governor, Democrat Gina Hinojosa, has promised a moratorium on their construction and greater community input into where data centres are built. The incoming governors of Georgia and Ohio, Keisha Lance Bottoms and Amy Acton, have also pledged pauses on construction of large data centres.

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