As President Donald Trump pushes to accelerate America’s artificial intelligence boom, governors across the country—including Republicans—are imposing new conditions on the data centers needed to power it.
The divide is becoming increasingly visible as the November midterm elections approach. Data centers have moved from being largely an economic-development issue to a political one, with residents in communities across the country raising concerns about electricity prices, water use, land, tax breaks and the cost of building infrastructure for massive new facilities.
The result is an unusual tension inside the Republican Party.
Politics
Trump has made rapid AI development a national priority, arguing that the United States must move quickly to maintain its technological advantage over China. But Republican governors in states including Texas, Florida, Nevada and Nebraska have imposed, or moved toward imposing, conditions on data-center development.
Nevada became the latest example on Friday. Republican Governor Joe Lombardo announced tighter conditions for data centers seeking state tax abatements, including requirements concerning taxes, energy costs and the impact of projects on water, infrastructure and communities.
Lombardo’s administration continues to present data centers as an economic opportunity. But the new rules reflect a growing effort among state officials to ensure that residents are not left paying the costs of the AI boom.
Polls Find Majority of Voters Oppose Data Centers
A September New York Times/Siena poll found that 61 percent of likely voters opposed the construction of data centers to support AI, compared with 34 percent who supported it. Opposition reached 75 percent among Democrats and 47 percent among Republicans, while independents opposed construction by 60 percent to 36 percent.
A separate University of Massachusetts Amherst poll found that 65 percent of Americans opposed building an AI data center in their own community. Even Republicans opposed local construction by 52 percent to 18 percent.
The concerns are often less about artificial intelligence itself than about what the infrastructure required to run it means locally.
Data centers can consume enormous quantities of electricity. Depending on their design and location, they can also require substantial water resources. Communities are questioning whether utilities, taxpayers and existing ratepayers should bear the cost of connecting facilities to the grid or expanding infrastructure to serve them.
That is giving candidates a tangible local issue as they campaign for the 2026 midterms.
The New York Times/Siena poll found that AI and data centers remain a relatively low-priority issue when voters are asked what will determine their midterm votes. But the same poll found broad opposition to data-center construction, creating a potentially important distinction between an issue that voters care about in their communities and one they currently rank among their top national voting concerns.
The politics therefore do not fall neatly along party lines.
Republican voters are broadly more supportive of data centers than Democrats, but recent polling still shows majority Republican opposition to facilities being built in their own communities.
For Republican governors, they are left walking a narrow line between following Trump’s calls to support AI as an industry while arguing that companies should pay for the electricity, water and infrastructure they consume.
What Trump Has Said About AI
Trump has repeatedly argued that the United States needs to build AI infrastructure rapidly.
In August, he said that if he were a governor or mayor and had the opportunity to bring an AI plant or data center to his community, he would “absolutely want it because the jobs are enormous and the money paid, the taxes paid are just enormous.”
He has also framed AI as a competition with China. On September 14, while speaking with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang during a public event, Trump said “whoever wins AI, wins,” describing AI as bigger than the internet and saying data centers were an important part of the competition.
The same day, Trump rejected calls for additional federal guardrails, describing concerns about AI safety in a Truth Social post as a “HOAX.” He said the only control AI needed was “a STRONG AND SMART (High IQ!) PRESIDENT.”
Trump has nevertheless acknowledged that data-center growth needs to be managed in some respects. He has argued that data centers should produce their own electricity and said communities should benefit economically from the facilities. But his broader message has been that the United States cannot afford to slow AI development while China is competing for technological leadership.
Trump’s push for AI development has coincided with close working relationships between his administration and major technology companies.
The White House has repeatedly brought technology executives into discussions about AI policy and promoted major private-sector investments in AI infrastructure. The administration has also made speeding up permitting and construction a central part of its AI strategy.
Trump Wants an AI Boom. Republican Governors Are Adding Conditions
Republican governors are confronting a growing tension over the AI data-center boom: They are operating within a party whose president has made rapid AI expansion a national priority, even as certain polls suggest that the majority of Republican voters oppose them.
The issue is becoming more politically significant as the November midterms approach, particularly in states where residents are raising concerns about electricity costs, water use and the strain on local infrastructure.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who is up for reelection in November, offers one of the clearest examples of the shift.
In November 2025, Abbott joined Google to announce a $40 billion investment in Texas that included new data-center facilities. At the time, he called Texas the “epicenter of AI development” and said, “We must ensure that America remains at the forefront of the AI revolution, and Texas is the place where that can happen.”
Less than a year later, Abbott ordered a statewide audit of proposed data centers seeking to connect to the Texas power grid. No project can move forward until the review is completed, and projects that fail to meet state requirements can be denied a grid connection.
“Our top priority is to protect Texans’ safety and quality of life,” Abbott said in announcing the order. “Simply put, Texans must come first.”
The governor has since established standards requiring data centers to protect the electric grid, conserve water, account for neighborhood impacts and pay their own way. “They must not pass costs on to Texas families or interfere with their quality of life,” Abbott said.
By August, Abbott was also describing the backlash against the industry in unusually blunt terms, telling ABC News that data-center companies had “dug their own grave” by failing to build support in local communities and had gotten “the backlash they deserve.” Trump, meanwhile, had called Texas’ opposition to data centers a “mistake.”
Other governors have increasingly focused on putting conditions around the industry’s physical expansion.
Florida Governor Ron DeSantis has taken a similar approach. When signing legislation imposing new requirements on hyperscale data centers, DeSantis said the law provided “much-needed protections for taxpayers and our natural resources.”
Nebraska Governor Jim Pillen has likewise distinguished between supporting AI and subsidizing the infrastructure required to run it.
“I fully support the need for computational services that enable us to stay ahead in the race for artificial intelligence,” Pillen said in a statement. “However, we cannot foot the bill for them.”
Pillen said data-center companies are “well-positioned to pay their own way” and argued that Nebraska should not accept projects that deplete its land, water and electricity resources.
Nevada’s Lombardo has now moved to tighten tax abatements for new data centers while continuing to argue that the industry represents a major economic opportunity for the state. His September 18 executive order reduces the sales-tax benefits available to new facilities and requires companies seeking abatements to make commitments covering their own water and power costs.
A Bipartisan Issue
Polling found Democrat voters were more strongly opposed to AI and data centers, but for political leaders, the approach is somewhat different. Democratic officials have generally placed greater emphasis on AI safety, transparency and accountability, while some have also moved to address the environmental and infrastructure consequences of data-center construction.
California provides the clearest example. Governor Gavin Newsom on Friday issued an executive order accelerating independent oversight of frontier AI companies and directing officials to explore additional safeguards, including a potential emergency “kill switch” for advanced AI models.
The order calls for independent verification of AI companies’ safety frameworks, transparency reports and risk assessments, while directing officials to develop recommendations for stronger oversight.
“We’re not waiting to act – we’re going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it’s too late,” Newsom said in a statement. “We’re going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity; the stakes are too high to wait or delay action.”
California is primarily targeting the risks associated with AI systems themselves: safety, transparency, independent audits, privacy, deepfakes and the use of AI involving children and government.
Other Democratic-led states have taken action on data centers, too.
Pennsylvania has imposed requirements concerning energy affordability, environmental protection, transparency and community engagement for data-center projects seeking state support. New York has pursued restrictions on large-scale data-center development. Oregon has scrutinized the electricity and infrastructure implications of data centers, while Virginia has moved toward greater accountability and transparency for large facilities.
The approaches vary, but the underlying question is similar: How should states balance the economic benefits of AI with the associated costs of its expansion?
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Gray R. Thomas
