Data centers become a political flashpoint after midterms, putting AI industry on notice

Certainly been the case. So let's just use Holbert as an example. We were inside these city council meetings that were packed. So many people voiced opposition of why they were against these data centers and why they had concerns. They were talking about how they were worried about their electric bills going up, the water consumption that some of these data centers could bring. Some were even concerned about the noise. But when we were speaking to some of them and they brought up these concerns of their elected officials, they said that they were largely It's largely ignored here, but it wasn't just here in Hobart. This was something that we We heard across the country, and this has become a theme during the midterm elections. In fact, in a recent Fox News poll, more than half of the people surveyed said that AI data centers were a crucial or a major factor for how they voted Tuesday. I spoke with Wandy Park, who is the founder and CEO of Pado AI, which is an energy orchestration software platform that serves Data centers. So he told me the midterm election results say a few things. So, for example, he brought up Ohio. 18 communities approved limitations or bans on data centers. Senator-elect Sherrod Brown in Ohio, Senator-elect James Tallarico in Texas, and Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa used data centers. As a campaign message to push for tighter regulations. But, you know, on the other side of this issue, there has been this promise of jobs and millions of dollars in investment. But Park felt Tuesday sent a message to governments of all sizes. People are saying, well, like, hey, I'm not getting what I thought I was getting or the economic development is not there or you're using up and polluting all our water or my rates are going up. Like all those types of things started to trickle in and are saying, like, hey, this is not equitable. Right. So let's take it again. Let's take a breath and figure out, like, what's the right way to do that. Let's get the community involved. And Park also felt like the midterm election started this brand new dialogue, not only talking about where data centers could be built, but can you make them more efficient? Can people who live in your communities have more of a say in how they're being built and where they're going here? And there was an Associated Press poll that came out right after the midterm elections that found that three-quarters of voters said they do not want a new AI data center built where they live. Live in Hobart tonight, Brett Poganski, Fox Chicago.