WASHINGTON — The environmental advocacy group Food & Water Watch said Wednesday that results from Tuesday’s elections amount to a rejection of the fast-paced construction of artificial intelligence data centers, and it called on Congress to enact a national moratorium on new facilities.
In a statement issued Nov. 4, the group said voters in dozens of states chose candidates who opposed what it called the unfettered buildout of hyperscale data centers. It characterized support for that buildout as a pillar of President Donald Trump’s platform.
According to the group, gubernatorial candidates who supported data center moratoriums won in Texas, Michigan, Oregon, New Mexico, Ohio, Georgia and New York. It said the Democratic candidate for governor in Kansas, who made stopping data centers a key part of her campaign, was ahead.
The group also listed congressional candidates it said had won or were likely to win after prioritizing a national moratorium, including Will Lawrence in Michigan’s 7th District, Randy Villegas in California’s 22nd, Jamie Ager in North Carolina’s 11th, Rebecca Cooke in Wisconsin’s 3rd, Katy Padilla Stout in Texas’ 23rd, Matt Dunlap in Maine’s 2nd, Bob Harvie in Pennsylvania’s 1st, Jake Johnson in Minnesota’s 1st and Matt Little in Minnesota’s 2nd.
In Senate races, the group pointed to Ohio Senator-elect Sherrod Brown, who it said made opposition to data centers central to his campaign against Republican Sen. John Husted, and Michigan Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed, who it said has called for a halt to new data center construction. It also cited Scott Colom, a candidate in a close Mississippi race who it said has called for a statewide moratorium.
The group also said billionaire Elon Musk spent hundreds of millions of dollars during the election cycle in support of his AI ambitions, including what it described as a failed attempt to influence results in Texas.
“Voters across the country have emphatically rejected the push for AI data centers,” Food & Water Watch Executive Director Wenonah Hauter said. “In state after state and race after race, Big Tech has failed to deliver – and everyday Americans have won.”
Hauter said congressional Democrats should begin by rejecting a “permitting reform” bill pending in the lame-duck session, which the group described as pro-polluter.
“A desperately-needed moratorium on new data center construction must be enacted, so lawmakers and community leaders have the time to determine if – not how – this out-of-control industry can ever be safely regulated,” she said.
Data centers, which require large amounts of electricity and water, have become a growing political issue in many states, including New Jersey.
This report is based on information from Food & Water Watch.
Source: Food & Water Watch
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