Iowa voters join bipartisan backlash against AI data centers ahead of midterms

DES MOINES, Iowa — A growing coalition of voters across the political spectrum is pushing back against the rapid spread of AI data centers, and the issue is shaping up to be a sleeper hit in November's midterm elections. Even in deep-red Iowa, where President Donald Trump won by a landslide, local leaders are hitting the brakes.

Dawn Vogel, a Republican county supervisor in rural Buchanan County, voted earlier this year for a moratorium that temporarily bans data centers from setting up shop in her heavily Republican county, which favored Trump 63% to 35% in 2024. She says the concern isn't partisan, it's practical.

“I don't think this is a Republican or Democratic issue,” Vogel said on the sidelines of the Iowa State Association of Counties' annual conference in late August. “It's an issue of what's the best use for the land, what's the best use for our natural resources. You can have all the data you want to in the world, but if you don't have water to drink, you don't have humans to use the data.”

Vogel said she hasn't talked to a single voter at home who wants data centers. Her position puts her in a loose but very large populist coalition fighting the rise of data centers at the ballot box, with yard signs, in courts, and at all levels of government.

Why are voters so opposed to data centers?

An NBC News Decision Desk Poll powered by SurveyMonkey, conducted from Aug. 20 through Sept. 1, found that 69% of respondents oppose the construction of AI data centers in their local area, with 45% saying they “strongly oppose” the idea.

The opposition crosses party lines. While Republican voters are more supportive of data centers than Democrats and independents, the majority of them remain opposed, 57% to 43%. The survey found that 81% of Democrats and 71% of independents are against data centers being built in their communities.

For many, the issue is about resources. Data centers consume massive amounts of electricity and water, and critics say the burden often falls on local residents and ratepayers.

Jordan Cloe, 47, an electrician from Bondurant in Iowa's hotly contested 3rd Congressional District, said he's worried about the resources used by a data center in neighboring Altoona.

“Did we have any data on what the implications were about water consumption or anything? Like, we just built a power grid where that thing sits,” he said. “Did we get to use that? No, they gobbled that up.”

Cloe, who said he aligns more with Democrats, said he plans to vote for Democratic challenger Sarah Trone Garriott in November against Republican Rep. Zach Nunn.

Trump pushes data centers as economic opportunity

The voter backlash puts them at odds with President Donald Trump, who has championed data centers as an economic engine for communities across the country.

“The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post at the end of August. “If they want to be successful and rich, with far lower taxes and jobs all over the place, let Data Reign.”

But voters who spoke with NBC News on a recent road trip along Interstate 80 from Nebraska to New Jersey said it's more about backyards than being seen as backward. The route includes eight swing districts key to determining which party will control the House next year and two marquee Senate races.

Tamara Clark, 49, a Democratic voter who works in the healthcare industry in Ohio, said the issue has become a touchstone for the feeling that the powerful are taking advantage of the powerless.

“All of the data centers that are starting to pop up in areas, I find that troublesome because it drives utility costs for citizens in the area,” she said. “I don't feel like the rich should continuously get rich while we have to grovel for what we need in our everyday necessities.”

Politicians shift positions as voter pressure mounts

The backlash is prompting a shift among elected officials who once embraced data centers as a way to bring jobs and tax revenue to their cities, counties, and states.

Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, who is seeking to hold his seat against Democratic former Sen. Sherrod Brown, was a full-throated advocate for data centers when he was the state's lieutenant governor. But in July, he introduced legislation in the Senate that would require utility companies to charge large-scale data center operators enough money to cover the costs of increased electricity and water use.

Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, D-Pa., who is on the ballot in November, signed a new batch of data center regulations in August after having encouraged companies to locate them in his state.

In Ohio's 9th Congressional District, Rep. Marcy Kaptur, D-Ohio, a 22-term incumbent, is using the issue against her rival, Republican Derek Merrin, who cast a 2017 vote in the state Legislature that helped extend tax breaks to companies that build data centers in the state.

Workers say data centers bring jobs and high pay

While critics are loud, supporters point to the economic benefits. National and local labor unions involved in the construction and maintenance of data centers tout them as a boon for workers, both as a source of jobs and for high rates of pay.

Several data center workers in Ohio spoke to NBC News about those benefits on the condition of anonymity because, according to one of them, they have agreed not to discuss their jobs with the media.

That worker said he can make as much as $5,000 in a week, including overtime, at a relatively low-level union job.

“It's helping a lot of people, a lot of work going on, a lot of people benefiting from it,” the data center worker said, adding that he was warned by friends about problems, from overuse of water resources to weird ringing sounds, that he has not witnessed at his workplace.

“It's scary,” he said. “You got a lot of people that say all these horrific things. I was told all these negative things about data centers, and then I started working at one, and I didn't see any of the things I was told about.”

He said he would like to see proponents and critics work together to fix any problems with data centers so that they can continue to be built and operate without disruption to the surrounding communities.

What does this mean for Iowa?

For Iowa voters, the data center debate is likely to be a factor in the 3rd Congressional District race and other contests where local concerns about water, power, and property values collide with promises of economic development.

For Vogel, the county supervisor, the unresolved questions are enough reason to keep data centers out of her county, at least for now.

“We need to do what's best for Buchanan County and then, you know, if the companies want to come knock on the door,” she said, “then we'll talk.”

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com.