Fifteen minutes after Susan Bourgeois was named to lead Louisiana Economic Development, she received her first data center pitch. In the Hilton lobby, the CEO of Entergy Louisiana told her Meta wanted to build one of the largest AI data centers ever. Bourgeois said she embraced the opportunity: data centers, vast warehouses of servers that power the internet and AI, bring huge capital and are often attractive to rural communities facing population decline.
Since 2024, demand for AI compute has surged, and tech companies are building data centers across the U.S. at an unprecedented pace. Business needs, consumer use of AI and federal investments are all driving the boom. But the physical strains these facilities place on communities — their energy and water demands, noise, pollution, visible presence and sometimes secretive dealmaking — have ignited fierce local opposition and turned data centers into a voting issue ahead of the midterms.
“It has become a kitchen table issue, and it has become a very relevant political issue,” said Christabel Randolph of the Center for AI and Digital Policy. Residents worry that data centers will raise utility bills and affect affordability, and they are looking to elected officials to hold companies at bay. “I really don’t understand why they would want to come into a community where they’re not wanted,” said Mike Trentham, who lives opposite a proposed Tennessee data center.
With no comprehensive federal rules and many states still crafting policy, local governments have become the main gatekeepers. “It is very much a Wild West,” said Julie Bolthouse of the Piedmont Environmental Council. Localities decide projects much as they would a Walmart or a housing development.
Opposition has moved from social media into packed town halls and hours-long municipal meetings; some jurisdictions have held outdoor sessions to accommodate crowds. Complaints range from noise and power demands to pollution, unsustainable water use, environmental degradation and secrecy in how deals are negotiated. Since Meta began construction in Louisiana, residents have reported discolored and foul-smelling water; many now rely on bottled water, local reporting says.
Voters are punishing officials who back controversial projects. In Festus, Mo., four city council members lost their seats after supporting a $6 billion data center. In Independence, Mo., two councilmembers were voted out after supporting tax breaks for a large center. In rural North Carolina, Vietnam War veteran David Batts pledged to “primary” commissioners who approved a data center near his home and later unseated a four-term incumbent in a Democratic primary.
State legislatures have taken up bills in response, ranging from ending tax incentives to imposing moratoria. The issue cuts across party lines: Maine’s Democratic legislature approved a pause on most data center construction, the first such strong state-level action. Republican Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has called for regulation, saying taxpayers shouldn’t pay higher utilities to subsidize wealthy companies; the Florida Legislature passed a bill to guard data centers’ water and energy use and to regulate siting.
Data centers bring substantial economic benefits that are hard for cash-strapped communities to ignore. They typically create construction jobs and add significant property tax revenue. Bourgeois said Meta’s Richland Parish project in Louisiana represents about $1.3 billion in construction wages and nearly $1 billion in tax revenue over five years. States compete fiercely with tax incentives: North Carolina has exempted data centers’ electricity from sales tax, and Georgia exempts some computing equipment. Chris Clark of the Georgia Chamber of Commerce said data centers can be lifesavers for rural areas that don’t need large operating workforces and that won’t overburden schools or housing, adding that a huge data center in his county will generate more property tax value than the county’s residents combined.
Some communities enthusiastically recruit centers. Port Washington, Wis., adopted zoning to facilitate construction. In Oklahoma, city leaders say planned centers will bolster local school districts.
But in Virginia — ground zero for data centers, with far more facilities than any other state — opposition is growing. The state Senate proposed eliminating the sales tax exemption for data centers, a break that has cost about $1.9 billion. Critics say rolling back incentives could undermine Virginia’s competitive advantage; supporters say the subsidies have become costly and environmentally problematic. The Sierra Club estimates nearly 1,300 data centers are built or planned in Virginia, totaling roughly 390 million square feet.
At the national level, policy moves have been tentative. President Trump issued an executive order in 2025 to accelerate federal permitting of data center infrastructure and later proposed a “Ratepayer Protection Pledge” urging AI companies to cover the energy costs of their projects and protect consumers from price hikes. He also released a nonbinding National AI Legislative Framework. Policy analysts say these steps signal recognition of the issue but lack enforcement. “The enforcement mechanisms are so weak,” said Ronnie Kinoshita of Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. “The plan is not regulation… It’s a nonbinding list of recommendations.”
Still, the debate has clearly shifted from local NIMBY fights to a national political issue likely to influence midterm races. Bolthouse said politicians are finding it harder to ignore constituents’ concerns.
Methodology: Data center locations were sourced from Data Center Map (snapshot as of March 19, 2026). A Python script spatially matched each site to 2025 congressional districts using Census TIGER/Line shapefiles. Boundaries reflect the 119th Congress and may not capture changes ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. Counts include operational and planned facilities. Party affiliation was sourced from House.gov; for vacant seats, the most recent officeholder’s party was used.