Voters Back AI, Data Center Restrictions in Tuesday Elections

Voters in Tuesday's elections backed candidates and ballot measures that restrict artificial intelligence data centers in states across the country, according to Ars Technica, which reported the results complicate the Trump administration's push for a rapid AI buildout.

How many data center measures passed?

Redbud Consulting, a polling firm that tracked data center initiatives nationwide, found 38 of 44 ballot measures across 10 states passed as of the report, Ars Technica said. The measures included moratoriums and outright bans. Analysts cited by Ars Technica said the restrictions are not expected to affect data centers already under construction or approved through 2027, but will largely hit projects planned for 2028. Only one measure allowing a data center to proceed passed, and even that result came with new conditions: developers in a North Dakota city must now pay for independent reviews and hold public hearings before expanding or proposing projects, according to the report.

Why does Texas matter most to the AI buildout?

Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa won the Texas governor's race, a result Axios described as scrambling the math behind the federal AI buildout, Ars Technica reported. Texas was expected to account for more than 41 percent of added US data center capacity in 2028, according to Axios as cited in the Ars Technica piece. Bloomberg reported that Hinojosa's win leaves developers facing a "worst-case scenario," and that roughly 13 gigawatts of planned data center capacity in the state is now exposed. Hinojosa has said she plans to delay projects until lawmakers pass legislation "tackling impacts on water, electricity, air, and property rights," Ars Technica reported.

How is the industry responding to the results?

Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research, in a note cited by Bloomberg and relayed by Ars Technica, said Texas projects with "power, permits and steel" already in place will continue, while projects with power but no state environmental permits could slip 12 to 18 months. Johnson wrote that Hinojosa "would impose a moratorium until legislation is passed that gives communities a voice, protects household utility bills, and ends the tax incentives for data centers," adding, "The question now is how long the pause lasts." Some projects could relocate to states such as Louisiana or Georgia, Johnson said, or may not proceed at all.

What does this mean for projects already underway?

PIMCO head of public policy Libby Cantrill, quoted in the Ars Technica report, said that even if statewide moratoriums do not materialize everywhere, developers should expect "a lot more sand in the gears of the AI buildout regardless—with more time required to secure permits and other approvals, as well as more concessions that data center developers will have to make."

What to watch

• Whether Texas lawmakers advance Hinojosa's proposed moratorium legislation and how long it lasts.
• Whether developers shift planned 2028 projects to Louisiana, Georgia, or other states with fewer new restrictions.
• How many of the 38 passed measures translate into enforced bans versus procedural hurdles like added permitting and public hearings.
• Whether industry messaging continues to frame the results as anti-Trump rather than anti-AI, as Ars Technica's headline describes Big Tech's current framing.