Data centers have quickly become a political liability for the entire AI industry — and any elected officials backing them, making it a bipartisan bête noire heading into the 2026 midterms. No wonder AI insiders are scrambling to turn the controversial infrastructure into something positive.

This week, Rep. Nancy Mace (R-SC) called for a one-year freeze on new data centers in South Carolina. In St. Charles, Missouri, a bipartisan city council went even further, voting 7-1 to ban them entirely. Democratic billionaire and California gubernatorial candidate Tom Steyer briefly joined the chorus, signing a Greenpeace moratorium on new data centers (though he later explained he merely supports guidelines).

A recent Gallup poll found 71% of Americans oppose data facilities being built in their area, which is a higher level of opposition than even nuclear power faces. 

Some of the backlash is overblown, as the centers have become an easy scapegoat for almost anything that goes wrong near them.

“Kids getting stuck on a roller coaster are now blamed on data centers,” said Nathan Leamer, executive director of Build American AI. “People are jumping on this as the root of all their problems, and that message spreads so much faster than the truth.”

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President Trump has tried to address the anxiety, pushing AI companies to “pay their own way” on power and create separate rate structures so data centers cover the electricity and grid upgrades they require.

The reality is that, in many cases, people are reacting to something completely understandable — they don’t want to look at a sprawling, brutalist building owned by some AI company they don’t trust. Nor do they want the possibility of higher electricity bills. (The International Energy Agency says US data centers are expected to account for nearly half of US electricity demand growth between now and 2030.) 

But for some, this feels like a symbolic opportunity to stand up against a force that is fundamentally altering life as we know it.  And unlike almost any other period of innovation — the Industrial Revolution or the advent of the internet — for the first time in history, people have a way to vote against the new technology they oppose. 

That angst even led to one Indianapolis councilman, Ron Gibson, who supported a data center project, being awoken at 1 a.m. by the sound of gunfire outside his home and the discovery of a “No Data Centers” note on his doorstep.

For leaders in AI, it has sparked a serious conversation about how to win over skeptics who don’t want their town to change (and aren’t sure they even like AI in the first place!) — and give them some of the upside.

One idea gaining ground: a direct dividend from profits generated by local data centers, either to individuals or to invest in city projects.

Leamer points to the telecom industry as a blueprint. When those companies needed local permission to scale, they struck deals with city governments — offering WiFi, low-income access programs, hotspots and workforce commitments.

The left-leaning Brookings Institute is pushing for data centers to pay a “host fee” to residents and towns so they can capture a more meaningful share of the economic advantage.

“People don’t want dust in their backyard,” Leamer added. “Construction NIMBYism is the default position. Data centers are going to have to invest in and buy off local communities.”

Lancaster, Pennsylvania, has negotiated a version of that: securing $20 million in area economic development, a promise to hire locals, and water and energy usage limits.

For a growing number of electricians, welders, plumbers, HVAC technicians and heavy equipment operators, data centers are offering pay that is sometimes more than 30% higher than other similar opportunities.

“If this [opposition] takes hold, it kills jobs for construction workers who were hit hard during COVID and the recession in rural areas around the country,” Leamer warns. 

Artificial intelligence companies are promising to fundamentally transform and improve lives — but it’s their responsibility to get Americans on board.