data center projects and 2026 midterm election shifts in deep-red counties, Digi Mart USA News: A new analysis from the conservative AI safety group Humans First found that deep-red counties with large data centers or proposed projects shifted further toward Democrats in last week’s midterm elections than comparable counties without such projects. The analysis, obtained by Fox News Digital, examined public election returns and data center project records in 1,540 counties across 16 states.
Across all counties examined, those hosting large data centers shifted an additional 2.2 percentage points toward Democrats compared with non-host counties in the same states. The pattern appeared in 14 of the 16 states and in 25 of the 27 governor and Senate races examined.
Restricting the analysis to deep-red counties, defined as those President Donald Trump won by at least 20 points in 2024, produced a raw gap of 2.1 points between counties hosting large data centers and comparable counties without projects.
Among deep-red counties with projects still in the proposal stage, the gap was 1.1 percentage points after accounting for past voting patterns, rural or urban status, population size, racial and ethnic makeup and recent voting trends. The group identified 114 proposed large data center projects across 92 deep-red counties, which could set up more local fights.
The memo found that Republican vote totals fell an additional 1.1% in deep-red host counties compared with comparable counties without large data centers, while Democratic vote totals showed no significant change.
The memo cautioned that its findings show an association rather than proof that data centers caused voters to change their behavior. County-level results also cannot determine whether Republicans switched their votes or simply stayed home.
Humans First’s September “Data Center Revolt” bus tour made 35 stops in 27 states, including 14 stops in the states covered by the analysis. Nine of those stops were in deep-red counties, all of which hosted a large data center project, and those nine counties shifted 2.2 points further toward Democrats after the analysis accounted for its controls.
The group said those same nine counties showed no comparable gap from 2020 to 2024, but the findings do not establish whether the visits influenced voting or whether those counties already had stronger opposition to development.
Separately, according to Ballotpedia, voters favored restrictions on data center development or rejected measures supporting such projects in 46 of 47 local data center ballot measures in 2026. The measures included restrictions on development and advisory questions.
Humans First chairwoman Amy Kremer told Fox News Digital that the results reflect a local control issue. “Our analysis looked at how counties with data centers voted and how those counties moved to the left,” she said.
“I think this happened for the reason I’ve been warning conservatives and Republicans about for some time: People engage politically when issues affect them personally.”
Kremer said developers and companies have often reached deals without public input, using nondisclosure agreements and shell companies, and that by the time residents learn of a project it is often too late to stop it. She argued that projects can raise the cost of electricity and water while tax abatements go to large companies.
The concerns come amid a broader debate over how data centers should pay for the electricity and grid infrastructure they require. The Energy Department estimates data centers used 4.7% of U.S.
electricity in 2024 and, in its reference case, could account for 11.8% by 2030. The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has directed regional grid operators to address safeguards against shifting the costs of serving large electricity users onto other customers, although those developments do not establish that data centers caused higher household rates in the counties examined.
Tax incentives also vary by state. The National Conference of State Legislatures reported that at least 38 states offer incentives specifically for data centers, including equipment-tax exemptions and, in some states, exemptions involving electricity or property taxes.
The Data Center Coalition, an industry trade group, says such incentives are similar to those offered to other capital-intensive industries and argues that data centers generate jobs, investment and tax revenue. Humans First does not support a nationwide or statewide moratorium on data centers, and Kremer said individual communities should be free to approve or reject projects.
“It is all about local control,” she said.
