Data centers have been a major issue in campaigns for the November election. Here’s what we heard from people about their anxieties, and how candidates are talking about those concerns.
Data centers are key to a number of functions internet users take for granted today — from quick monetary transactions to the AI services many people use. But they’re also deeply unpopular in Ohio. A Bowling Green State University poll of 1,000 likely Ohio voters released last month found 75% of respondents would oppose a data center in their community and that 63% would oppose construction of data centers anywhere in the state.
That sentiment could have big implications for the November election.
Ohioans in 18 counties will consider ballot measures related to data centers. Beyond those votes, they’ll also be presented with candidates for a number of offices that have a say in development of those centers. Here’s what to know as you weigh your choices.
What are the concerns?
Electric bills
Danielle Mitsch is facing the possibility of a data center being put in an old factory near her house in St. Bernard, Ohio. She fears the project would drive up her electric bill.
"I have no savings. I work two jobs and I'm in school full time. I already cannot afford my electric bill," Mitsch said. "If my electric bill were to go up even more, I'm going to have to sell my house and either move in with my dad or sister."
Statewide, people are paying more for energy as data centers boom. The computing facilities have already hiked electricity costs $23 billion for consumers across the PJM Interconnection grid, the energy market that serves Ohio, according to the Independent Market Monitor. That’s because data centers have an unprecedented demand for power, and supply isn’t keeping up. Consumers also often foot the bill for infrastructure needed to connect data centers to the grid.
The trend is likely to continue. About 150 data centers are already operating in Ohio and 140 more are on the way, according to research firm Scioto Analysis.
Environmental issues
The increase in the number of hyperscale data centers in Ohio and Kentucky has raised questions — and deep anxiety — about their environmental impact. Data center critics point to increased emissions from diesel-powered backup generators and gas-fired power plants used to power some data centers. Others are concerned about water used to cool data centers and the impact on the environment when centers release that water back into the environment.
A report earlier this year from Ohio University’s Voinovich School of Leadership and Public Service cites modeling suggesting the average data center in the state is responsible for 39.2 million kilograms of greenhouse gas emissions annually. For context, Ohio emitted roughly 186 billion kilograms of greenhouse gases in 2024, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration.
How much future data centers add to those emissions depends on what kind of power they will rely on.
The report by OU’s Voinovich School also identifies water usage as a significant local environmental concern for individual data facilities.
"A single large Ohio facility draws on the order of 2.7 billion kilograms of water per year — comparable to the annual water use of roughly 24,500 people," the report states. "Aggregated across the state's roughly 205 facilities, collective withdrawals are on the order of the annual water use of about 5 million people, though this comparison includes indirect water embedded in electricity generation."
Water usage is a huge question for groups like the Miami Conservancy District (MCD). The century-old organization is charged with stewardship of the 10-county watershed in Southwest Ohio, including the Great Miami Buried Valley Aquifer. The underground water source stretches from just north of Dayton to the Ohio River and provides water for millions in Southwest Ohio.
"There is no reasonable alternative if the aquifer is no longer available, either by degradation of quality or loss or misuse of the quantity," MCD Director of Communication, Outreach and Stewardship Sarah Hippensteel Hall told lawmakers earlier this year. "This resource has supported our region for generations. It is our greatest regional asset. It is also a resource that requires careful stewardship. We have a lot of water, but only if we use it properly."
All of this adds up to big concerns for people near data centers — and those worried about the more dispersed impacts of increased emissions coming from fossil fuel-burning power plants.
Ohio State University Sustainability Institute Associate Research Director Jeff Bielicki says these concerns, added to worries that data centers developed or utilized by multi-billion-dollar companies will swallow up valuable agricultural and residential land, have made some communities feel powerless, and have turned data center development into a big political issue.
"I think that there can be a sentiment that there’s the little guy and the big behemoth," he said. "And the extent to which people feel like they’re just being overrun could be factoring into it."
Ted Smith, an environmental health researcher at the University of Louisville, says where data centers are located, how big they are and how the public is engaged before they are built play big roles in the perception of them. And he says state governments can play a role in those decisions.
"I would argue the state could be taking that kind of leadership and helping developers understand where there are less-problematic places than others [to build a data center], and even what scale," he said. "Maybe there is such a thing as too big of a data center."
Land use and zoning
One place seeing the debate about where a data center should go is across the Ohio River in Mason County, Kentucky, where an as-yet-unnamed company has proposed a hyperscale data center.
County officials have already approved zoning changes that would allow for the data center, highlighting the sometimes-pivotal role county-level elected officials can play in these decisions.
Some residents are concerned about the loss of farm land in the predominantly agricultural community. Others face the prospect of losing their homes. A mobile home park home to a few dozen people is in the footprint of the proposed data center. The owner of the land has agreed to sell it for the center’s development. That leaves residents like Lisa Helphanstine in a tough spot.
County leaders say the 2,000 acre project could bring hundreds of jobs and millions of dollars in tax revenue to the county. But Helphanstine says moving will be more expensive than she can manage. She’s worried high housing prices mean she’ll have to move farther away from the place she grew up and her family there.
Helphanstine compares the coming data center to another massive economic change: the railroads that came through Kentucky in the 19th century. They changed the area's economy and brought prosperity for some. However, she points out they also eliminated some people's homes and farms forever. She feels the same is now happening to her.
"It's like, 'I don't care what your situation is, I want you off of here,' " she said.
NDAs and transparency
Details about data center developments are often hidden by non-disclosure agreements signed by developers and local officials. While leaders say it’s standard practice for economic development projects, residents say that secrecy is leaving them with unanswered questions and concerns about transparency.
Molly Bryden is with the nonpartisan research organization Policy Matters Ohio. She says even without NDAs, it can be hard for people to find out information about data centers proposed for their communities.
"We don't have strong enough reporting requirements at the state level, where we would have a centralized database or clearinghouse for information about planned projects," Bryden said. “There's kind of a patchwork approach developing where communities might hear some murmurs about a potential project, and then they have to start making public records requests, digging through public documents available on their local government's website."
To increase openness locally, Bryden recommends people ask questions of their elected officials.
Some people are taking that a step further, like lifelong Adams County resident Helen Newman. She decided to run as an independent candidate for county commissioner after encountering a lack of transparency around a potential 1,000-acre Amazon Web Services data center project near the former Stuart power plant.
In the Ohio Statehouse, a bill has been introduced to limit NDAs between certain local government officials and developers.
Noise
Once data centers are up and running, they can generate significant noise pollution. Cooling systems, diesel generators and fans produce a constant hum, which is a concern for people like Amy Humbert.
She moved to Trenton, Ohio, in 2022 and built her dream house in the small town shortly after. The start of construction on a hyperscale data center nearby has led her to question whether she wants to stay.
"This is the peace and quiet that I moved to Trenton for," Humbert said, as birds chirped outside. "If I have to hear the hum of a data center constantly — and I feel sorry for the people that live closer — I would be very upset about my neighborhood."
Research into the long-term health impacts of the noise pollution from data centers is limited. But, studies into persistent noise from sources like traffic and industrial sites show it hurts sleep, increases the risk for cardiovascular disease and can lead to hearing loss.
This is an issue which local elected officials can take steps to address, largely through zoning. In Trenton, the city council voted to create an I-T zoning district. It requires data centers to be built further back from the property line than other developments and use trees to buffer noise and light.
What could candidates do if elected?
For the most part, the development and operation of data centers is a private-market issue. But officials at various levels of government — and the public who elect them — can play a role in decision-making around data centers.
At the federal level, members of Congress have some legislative tools that can directly and indirectly impact how, when and where data centers are developed. That’s a key point when considering statements made by candidates running for the U.S. House of Representatives and the contest between Sen. Jon Husted and former U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown.
A Sept. 2026 report by the Congressional Research Service outlined some of the authority those elected positions hold. One tool available to federal lawmakers involves Congressional oversight of interstate commerce.
"Acting under its Commerce power, Congress could directly regulate data center design, siting, construction, and operation," the report reads. "Proposed bills in the 119th Congress would do this by, among other things, barring new construction of AI-related data centers, requiring data centers to obtain electricity from off-grid sources, and requiring data centers to obtain water from sources other than their local utilities."
Another area where federal lawmakers have leverage is under congressional taxing authority. The report notes there are bills before Congress that would create incentives for data centers that meet environmental or water use standards, as well as bills to end existing incentive programs for data centers in some cases.
Similarly, Congress can affect data center development through its spending power.
"Subject to constitutional constraints … Congress can, and frequently does, use funding conditions to induce state and local governments that receive federal funds to behave in certain ways," the Congressional Research Service report notes.
At the state level, governors, their administrations and state lawmakers can also exert influence over data center development.
Executive orders from a governor’s office can set standards for water use and electricity use. A state can award or deny tax incentives that might make a data center project more or less attractive to developers and technology companies. Issuing state grants that subsidize development is another potential lever a governor’s office could use. And enforcement of state regulations — including environmental regulations — is another place where a governor’s administration could change the trajectory of a data center project.
State lawmakers can create those regulations and pass other laws that limit or encourage data centers. Last year, the Ohio General Assembly convened the Ohio House and Senate Select Committees on Data Centers to consider actions it should take related to the issue.
Local officials — like at the county, city, village and township level — can influence zoning, permitting and other land use policies that can have big impacts on data center development.
What are candidates saying?
Race for the governor’s seat
Debate over data centers has loomed large in the race to be Ohio’s next governor between Democrat and former Ohio Health Director Amy Acton and Republican entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy. Both have come out in favor of limits on data center development, though neither supports an outright ban on even the large, hyperscale data centers.
"I’ve called for a conditional moratorium very early in this campaign," Acton told WVXU’s Cincinnati Edition recently. "We can’t have companies coming in the dark of night. Communities deserve to know what businesses are coming to their community, and have a say in that."
Her Republican opponent Ramaswamy proposed similar measures on WVXU’s Cincinnati Edition this month, saying that data centers could not only cover the costs of their own power but provide it for free to communities they build in. He also proposed requiring a buffer of trees around data centers and building on abandoned industrial sites instead of farm land or residential areas.
"Those are things that have to be true, and if any one of them is not true, it’s not going to get built in the state of Ohio, period," he said.
Ramaswamy promised to sign an executive order that would pause all data center construction until legislation is passed that puts those standards into place.
The idea of a pause on data center development is popular in Ohio. The September Bowling Green State University poll found 78% of respondents favored some kind of temporary moratorium on data centers until more information is available about their impacts.
Ohio’s U.S. Senate race
Data centers have also been a central theme in the race for one of Ohio’s U.S. Senate seats. GOP incumbent Sen. Jon Husted, who took the seat when his party mate JD Vance vacated it to become vice president, is facing a tough challenge from former U.S. Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat.
During his campaign, Brown has worked to paint Husted as "the face of data centers" in Ohio. He’s done this mostly by pointing to Husted’s time as Ohio Lt. Governor from 2019 to 2025. During that time, Ohio awarded hundreds of millions of dollars in tax incentives to data centers, mostly through sales tax exemptions that have been on the books since 2013, according to analysis by progressive-leaning thinktank Policy Matters Ohio.
Brown calls himself a "data center skeptic" and says the centers should pay for their own energy usage and meet strict environmental standards.
Husted, meanwhile, has pointed to a bill he introduced in the U.S. Senate called the Ratepayer Protection Act. The act would encourage states to set guidelines aimed at making sure data center users and developers cover the cost of increased electricity demand.
Senate Democrats blocked the bill, saying it did not require states to set standards that would protect ratepayers. Its voluntary nature, they said, made it "toothless."
Husted has said further decisions about data centers should be left up to local elected leaders, not the federal government.
Candidates for the U.S. House, as well as local elected officials, sometimes also have roles to play in making decisions about data centers.
You can learn more about other candidates on your ballot and their views on data center development in WVXU’s voter guide.
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