Data Centers Hit the Ballot: 41 Local Measures Decide AI's Real Estate

At least 41 local measures on data centers reach the ballot this Tuesday, with Ohio alone accounting for 21 of them across 18 jurisdictions, according to Ballotpedia. The fight has drawn roughly $173 million in campaign spending, ad tracker AdImpact estimates. That's cable-news money for zoning disputes.

The spark in Sunbury, Ohio, was a proposed $2 billion Amazon campus. City leaders offered substantial tax breaks, and residents started asking about electricity, water, noise and the area's rural character. The campus already sits on hold under a city moratorium. A local group, Big Walnut for Responsible Growth, gathered enough signatures to put a prohibition on large data centers to a vote — a yes blocks any facility meeting the measure's definition.

Sunbury is not alone. The measures differ in intent: some ban development outright, some restrict it, some merely advise.

Who's organizing the Ohio backlash?

Conserve Ohio, a political committee founded by Republican Nick Owens and Austin Baurichter, a left-leaning independent, helped put charter amendments banning large data centers on the ballot in 10 Ohio towns. Politico flagged the "strange bedfellows" alliance. Farmland, electricity bills and local decision-making turn out to bridge plenty of partisan gaps.

The issue has climbed the ticket, too. In Ohio's Senate race, Democrat Sherrod Brown has promised to make data centers pay the full cost of their electricity rather than shift it onto households. His opponent, Republican Sen. Jon Husted, points to Brown's past support for data center development and sponsored a bill pushing state regulators to shield other electricity customers from large new power users. That bill passed the House in September on a 417-3 vote, then stalled in the Senate — widely read as Minority Leader Chuck Schumer dampening Husted's reelection odds.

"The bill is a fraud, plain and simple," Schumer said after Democrats denied the motion to take it up.

The governor's race runs both directions. Democrat Amy Acton wants a conditional pause on new data centers until energy, environmental and community requirements are met. Republican Vivek Ramaswamy opposes property tax breaks, saying projects should supply their own energy and pay off locally. An outside group backing him aired an ad attacking Acton's tech investments.

In Pennsylvania's 8th Congressional District, Democrat Paige Cognetti has made data centers a centerpiece of her campaign against Republican Rep. Rob Bresnahan. Both stress local control. Both attack the other's record.

Where is the money flowing?

Of the $173 million spent on data-center campaign ads — almost all of it negative — about $95 million landed in Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania.

Local races see deep pockets too. In Oregon, Ohio, near Toledo, Vantage Data Centers gave $250,000 to Opportunity on the Bay, a committee fighting a proposed restriction. Four unions added $85,000 to a separate opposing group. Together they raised $335,000; supporters of the restriction raised $4,600, per an Oct. 25 Cleveland.com report. In Sunbury, the tech trade group NetChoice circulated door hangers urging a no vote.

Development backers cite investment, tax revenue and construction jobs. INCOMPAS CEO Chip Pickering argued at a Broadband Breakfast Live Online event in May that the build-out could bring infrastructure and economic opportunity to rural America.

Are bans the only option?

Some towns are negotiating instead. Port Washington, Wisconsin, voted in April to require public approval before offering tax incentives to projects above $10 million — a response to a proposed OpenAI and Oracle data center, organized with help from Great Lakes Neighbors United. It's a terms sheet, not a wall.

Others went further. Monterey Park, California, approved a permanent citywide data center ban in June with more than 86 percent of the vote — the first such public ban in the nation. In Festus, Missouri, voters in April removed every incumbent up for reelection after officials backed a $6 billion, 360-acre data center.

The real dispute, as AI Policy Forum CEO Alex Roark put it at the May event, is not whether communities accept technology investment but whether they define the value they receive and set clear rules. Meanwhile, Who Decides, founded by New York Assemblymember Alex Bores and organizer Anna Myers, has raised $10 million toward an AI-safety coalition for 2028 and hopes to raise $20 million more. Tuesday's vote offers the first real tally of what voters think AI's physical footprint should cost them.