A groundbreaking analysis from conservative group Humans First reveals a striking political shift: deep-red counties that host or are slated to host large data centers swung more significantly towards Democrats in the recent midterm elections than comparable counties without such projects. Examining 1,540 counties across 16 states, the study found that counties with data centers moved an average of 2.2 percentage points further left, a trend observed in 14 of the 16 states and impacting 25 of 27 key governor and Senate races. Even in counties President Trump won by over 20 points, the ‘data center penalty’ was evident, with these strong Republican areas showing a 2.1-point gap. Proposed projects also impacted voting, with a 1.1-point shift in deep-red counties considering new data centers, even after controlling for factors like population, demographics, and past voting trends. This phenomenon, where Republican vote share dropped while Democratic vote share remained stable, suggests that data centers are becoming a potent local issue that resonates with voters on a personal level, affecting their pocketbooks, communities, and quality of life, thereby driving political engagement away from the GOP in traditionally conservative strongholds.
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