A data center backlash is upending Ohio’s Senate race

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: Data centers were sold to many voters as the future of the American economy, but in Battleground, Ohio, they become one of the defining fights in a tough Senate race that could be key to reshaping the balance of power in the Senate in November. And many of the voters who will decide are now saying they want the data centers in Ohio out. In the bellwether Trumbull County in northeastern Ohio, residents are weighing a total ban on data center construction, potentially posing some big political problems for the Republican incumbent Senator John Husted, who helped usher in much of what the voters are now turning sour on. MSNOW's Ali Vitale went to Ohio to find out why. [00:00:39] Speaker 2: So they not only bought all this, but they bought a chunk over here. [00:00:43] Speaker 3: Jessica Baker had never considered herself a political person until data centers started coming to Ohio. [00:00:49] Speaker 2: If you would have asked me mid-2025 if I, you know, what I thought about data center, I don't know. Now? My home's under attack. That's the way it feels. [00:00:58] Speaker 3: She jumped fully into the fray, working with the grassroots group Conserve Ohio, trying to give people the choice she feels they never got on data centers. What does this stack represent to you? [00:01:08] Speaker 2: That people all over the state don't want the hyperscale data centers. [00:01:13] Speaker 3: When you started getting involved in this issue, did you think to yourself, I'm getting involved in this issue and thusly, I'm getting involved in politics? No. No. But everything is politics in Ohio this time of year. Ohio has marquee governor, Senate and House contests, but it's also home to the most data center ballot measures anywhere in the country. From outright bans to zoning restrictions, 21 ballot measures across 16 counties, most of them in Trump country. Both parties are finding their political footing in real time, Senator John Husted and former Senator Sherrod Brown included. Neither squarely for or against data centers. [00:01:50] Speaker 4: They can bring billions of dollars in private investment, construction work for electricians, pipe fitters, equipment operators and other skilled trades, but those benefits should not come with a hidden charge of electric bills. [00:02:04] Speaker 5: I'm making sure that if these jobs are there, that they're good union jobs and they have benefits. What I say is, you know, electricians, people doing this work, they don't want their electricity prices going up, and they are. [00:02:16] Speaker 3: 63% of Ohioans oppose data centers, according to a recent New York Times poll. But most favor limits and regulation, not an outright ban. What would the right message be for you? [00:02:28] Speaker 6: I would say just less data centers. I think we need to tone back on AI altogether. [00:02:35] Speaker 3: Why are there 226 data centers in Ohio? [00:02:39] Speaker 6: John Husted, that's why. [00:02:41] Speaker 3: The battle playing out on the airwaves. [00:02:43] Speaker 6: I see the commercials, but, you know, so many of them, they kind of get washed out. [00:02:48] Speaker 3: The commercials and the issue itself, worrying Republicans who fear it could be the anchor hanging around Husted's neck. Do you think their analysis is wrong? [00:02:57] Speaker 4: People in Ohio, I can tell you, after I fought to make the data centers pay their own freight so that we could lower electricity prices, and Chuck Schumer and the Democrats blocked it, that has been an eye-opening piece of information to them. [00:03:11] Speaker 3: That Husted spent his final weeks in the Senate pushing a bill related to data center costs spoke volumes. [00:03:17] Speaker 4: The motion is not agreed to. [00:03:19] Speaker 3: Democrats blocked a vote on the floor, calling the bill toothless. [00:03:22] Speaker 4: I've been talking about the fact that I want the Ratepayer Protection Act to pass, force data centers to pay for their own power. And I told them I'm fighting for the Ratepayer Protection Act. [00:03:37] Speaker 3: Thank you, President Trump, for being here. Husted's delicate dance, complicated further by Trump. There's so much money to be made for Ohio. When the president says, if you don't want data centers, you're going to be backwards and poor. [00:03:48] Speaker 2: I'd rather be backwards and poor than stupid and rich. I'd rather have the clean air, the clean water, my rural area, quiet. I'm just going to have to choose who I think is not going to invade my home. And right now, you think that's Sherrod Brown, probably. [00:04:04] Speaker 3: And for whoever lands in the Senate, more to do. What voters have said to me is they have renewed fears about AI broadly because of what these tech leaders have said, the potential end of humanity. I mean, like, these are dire warnings. But you've served in the Senate. Do you trust that it's a body that can act fast enough on issues like that? [00:04:20] Speaker 5: Um, I hope so. I don't know. [00:04:27] Speaker 1: MS Now senior Capitol Hill reporter Ali Vitale joins me now, which is a rare occasion that both Ali V's are on TV at the same time. Nice to see you, my friend. There are a lot of things I want to examine in here. One of the things that Houston talked about with that bill that didn't pass. It is kind of a toothless bill. It was it was it used language that said that publicly regulated utilities should consider ways in which to get the data centers to pay their share of the freight. So the way Houston's campaigning on this is not exactly what that bill was supposed to what he says the bill was supposed to be. [00:05:01] Speaker 3: Well, that's exactly right. And so I think it's twofold. Right, Ali? The idea that he's saying it would require data centers not to pass on these costs to constituents and to voters, even as they very much are. But the bill itself suggests that these states go to companies and say, hey, you know, you could pay the full freight of this or a larger percentage of the cost. And then, of course, the fact that he's spending the time on it, I think, tells the larger story of why this is such an important issue at this juncture in the campaign. [00:05:31] Speaker 1: And Hubbard in Ohio is a city. It's not the only one, but it's a city voting on an outright ban of construction of data centers. This reminds me a lot of the book ban stuff. Right. That people didn't think they were getting involved in politics, but but they got angry about how these all went down. This started after residents learned that the mayor of Hubbard signed a nondisclosure agreement with a data center company. This is part of what gets people mad, right? Why are there secret deals and why are there tax breaks and why is regulation just something that's sort of suggested as opposed to in place? [00:06:02] Speaker 3: And that's exactly what motivated Jessica, the character who we showed in our story. She's in a different part of the state, too. Right. Hubbard is one of the 16 counties that are going to be having data center related ballot measures come up in November. And again, Ohio is the state that has the most of these in the country, so it's going to tell a large story. But whether it's in Hubbard or in places like Mount Orab, all across Ohio, residents are becoming aware of this because they're saying, hey, these things are popping up and nobody gave me a choice about it. And that's one of the things that Jessica was talking about. She said, in my county, I don't have a referendum on my ballot. The only choice that I get to make is which person I could put in the Senate, in the governor's office, across these local races that could potentially help me roll back the decisions that were made without my consent or my knowledge and hopefully help me get a better handle on this going forward. And I think that's why this issue is so important in the short term. It's this election in the medium term. It's what does the Senate do? And you heard Senator former Senator Sherrod Brown there saying, I hope that the body can take this up. Certainly the Senate that I cover every day, not known for its speed. And then in the long term, you've got this major issue here looming, not just from a political sense in the 2028 campaign, where both parties are going to have to find their political footing. But for the voters who are seeing this happen in their communities right now, fearing that as more data centers pop up, maybe it's too little, too late. I think this is one of the bigger concerns. And we're watching this wave build in real time. [00:07:32] Speaker 1: But when you talk to Sherrod Brown, you brought something up. And I wish we brought this up more regularly. And that is data centers are the physical, hyperscale data centers are the physical manifestation of this problem. But there's this AI thing right behind it that is also a problem. And the people who run these companies have more money than the railroad companies ever had, than the oil companies ever had, than the pharma companies ever had. So not only are regular voters not getting consulted on this, but those people have the absolute inside track with respect to this administration. [00:08:05] Speaker 3: That's exactly right. And when you have these images of President Trump standing next to Sam Altman and Dario Amadei and everybody who has their hands on the steering wheel of AI technology, which is intermeshed with data centers and the way that voters are thinking about and metabolizing this issue, that is an object that certainly doesn't help. And it's one of the reasons why I talk to Republicans who say, well, you know what, we've typically seen ourselves on the other side of these energy incorporation issues. And now they're feeling it from constituents in a way where they can't really figure out which way is up on the politics of it. And candidly, that's the same for Democrats. There's different undercurrents here, but it all leaves both parties in a position where they are having to figure out the right way to message on this. And I think it's important to note, too, like Jessica, who we talked to from a grassroots perspective, all the way up to the candidates. No one is advocating an outright ban because there are points to this. There are pros that they see to this, whether it's jobs, whether it's the technology itself, the national security. But at the same time, voters are telling people we want guardrails and we want a say. And that's the important piece of this for November. [00:09:10] Speaker 7: Hey, it's Rachel. I am so glad to see you at the end of that clip because this is where I get to tell you about a new way to watch all our clips and all of our shows and everything on MSNOW on your phone or your tablet or your laptop. You can watch things live or recorded. Plus, you can ask me and all the other hosts and reporters questions in our weekly live chats. you can go to ms.now/membership or just click below. Thanks.