“The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter).”
People hold up signs on a pedestrian bridge during a nationwide protest against AI data center expansion in Berkeley, California, on July 18, 2026.(Josh Edelson / AFP via Getty Images)
Donald Trump is a big fan of the data centers powering the AI industry’s boom: “Everything’s good around them,” he recently told Fox News. Figures as diverse as Willie Nelson, Pope Leo, and Erin Brockovich might beg to differ, however—and all three have warned of the energy-guzzling behemoths’ environmental hazards in recent months.
They’re far from alone in sounding the alarm, and the president’s position is, in fact, increasingly unpopular: Seven Americans in 10 now believe that everything is not good around data centers, and say they’d oppose the construction of the computing hubs in their communities.
American anxiety about artificial intelligence has been rising for years. But until now, there have been limited outlets to channel that anxiety into action. With tech giants racing to build AI server campuses quickly and with limited oversight, Americans now have a (literally) concrete target for their protests.
In an Instagram post striking out against the dozens of data centers slated for construction in his native Central Texas, Nelson summed up the national mood: “The last thing we need is a loud, water thieving, light polluting, data center anywhere near our town (or any others for that matter).”
The 93-year-old singer-songwriter speaks for backlash that crosses all the usual political lines—and opens promising ground for progressive politics.
In some ways, it’s hard to imagine a construction surge less primed for popularity. Large-scale computing facilities are greedy consumers of water and electricity, requiring the latter in such massive quantities that dozens of natural-gas-burning power plants are being built to keep them online. Data centers offload heat pollution that raises the temperature in surrounding areas, and they can emit a droning hum day and night, resulting in migraines and sleepless nights for their neighbors.
All of which job-strapped communities would perhaps tolerate, if AI data centers produced considerable lasting employment—but they don’t do that, either. In fact, the supposed upside most visibly championed by big business is the idea that the technology will allow employers to replace countless jobs. And while everyday Americans have little ability to slow the AI rollout in the workplace, they can go to a local planning committee meeting and vent their disapproval. No wonder Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk are currently cooking up long-shot plans to offshore the mega-computers in space.
Data centers are so resoundingly unpopular that in the response to them the partisan divide marking almost every debate in American life is surprisingly absent. Governor Kathy Hochul (D-NY) signed the first statewide moratorium on new construction last month, and just last week, Governor Greg Abbott (R-TX) halted data center approvals in Texas pending an audit of their impact on the state’s electric grid—making Trump’s glowing assessment all the lonelier.
A similar consensus is emerging at the grassroots. Earlier this month, over 400 people gathered in Tulsa, Oklahoma, for a critical discussion on the server-building boom organized by the progressive Forum for Real Economic Emancipation. Meanwhile, Humans First, a conservative group helmed by MAGA-loving, election-denying Tea Party alum Amy Kremer, organized a national day of data center protests in July.
The event saw nearly 150 rallies taking place across 42 states.
The issue has also played a significant role in recent elections, with last Tuesday’s primaries netting wins for AI industry critics. Abdul El-Sayed, who made data center regulations an early campaign plank, won Michigan’s Democratic Senate primary. Sunrise Movement cofounder William Lawrence, who supports a federal data center moratorium, won the party’s nomination for the state’s seventh district. And, in a surprising display of bipartisan bonhomie, Republican state Senate candidate Kenny Clevenger ran an ad highlighting his alignment with left-wing Representative Rashida Tlaib in opposing a data center project backed by Governor Gretchen Whitmer.
With the midterm elections now firmly upon us, the question is whether Democratic candidates will do more than merely occupy ballot lines as mild alternatives to the red-hot crisis that is Donald Trump.
As Trump spends over $1 billion a day on a globally destabilizing war on Iran and admits that he doesn’t “think about Americans’ financial situation,” millions across the country are struggling with the surging costs of essentials. Democrats must seize this moment and advance bold, small-“d” populist ideas—not settle for cynical caution that once again snatches defeat from the jaws of victory.
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Onward,
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Editor and Publisher, The Nation
All this cross-party pushback has been astonishingly effective: Since June, municipalities have passed nearly 200 new local ordinances restricting construction, and over 50 planned data centers have been canceled in 2026.
Americans often feel an understandable sense of powerlessness in the face of sweeping change. Public opinion is largely decoupled from political outcomes; we live under a historically unpopular president currently waging a historically unpopular war.
But when it comes to data centers, people across the nation have found that they have the power to shape their communities—and the power to send a broader message to Big Tech. The massive server farms are tangible symbols for a fed-up public pushing back against powerful and unaccountable interests.
This backlash may be transpartisan, but it’s rooted in values that anyone on the left should be able to get behind. The interests of deep-pocketed businesses don’t outweigh those of small communities. Markets require management. The public can and should rein in corporate excess. Regardless of where these messages are coming from, their current resonance could well open the door to progressive victories in the not-so-distant future.
In Tennessee, where Musk’s xAI data centers are busily belching out smog-producing nitrogen oxides, one independent voter told Politico that, while he’s typically “not for the progressive agenda,” congressional hopeful Justin Pearson’s data center opposition gave him pause.
“It could very well change the equation for me,” he told the outlet. “This is one issue that could cause me to vote for somebody I wouldn’t otherwise pay much attention to.”
Katrina vanden HeuvelTwitterKatrina vanden Heuvel is editor and publisher of The Nation, America’s leading source of progressive politics and culture. An expert on international affairs and US politics, she is an award-winning columnist and frequent contributor to The Guardian. Vanden Heuvel is the author of several books, including The Change I Believe In: Fighting for Progress in the Age of Obama, and co-author (with Stephen F. Cohen) of Voices of Glasnost: Interviews with Gorbachev’s Reformers.