Newsweek36%
‘Cost Me the Election’: Data Centers Trigger Voter Backlash 72%
By Joe Edwards0%
6/25/2026, 9:47:01 AM
BS Summary: This article contains 22 faulty reasoning types, including Post Hoc (False Cause), Framing Effect, and Hasty Generalization, with Negativity Bias as the most egregious example at 73.4% saturation with 495 hits. Analysis detected 2,057 faulty-reasoning hits from 674 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 64.2% and a BS Rank of 72% (6,249 of 21,886 articles). This article is worse (more manipulative) than 71.50% of the article peer group.
A wave of voter anger over massive data center projects is beginning to reshape U.S. politics, with local officials and senior lawmakers losing elections after backing controversial developments tied to the artificial intelligence boom.
In Utah on Wednesday, State Senate President J.
Stuart Adams—one of the most powerful Republicans in the state—lost his primary election after supporting a major data center development near the Great Salt Lake, in one of the clearest signs yet of the growing political risks tied to the industry.
At the local level, the fallout was just as direct.
“Do I think that the data center vote cost me the election?
Yes I do,” former Box Elder County Commissioner Lee Perry said after conceding his primary race, after voting to advance the same project.
The defeats of Adams and multiple county officials tied to the proposal suggest that opposition to data centers is no longer confined to planning disputes—but is emerging as a voting issue capable of reshaping elections.
Utah's Stratos Project Contoversey Explained
The controversy in Utah centered on a sprawling proposed data center campus, known as the Stratos project, planned near the Great Salt Lake.
Described as one of the largest data centers in the world, and backed by *Shark Tank* investor Kevin O’Leary, the Stratos development would have spanned tens of thousands of acres in Box Elder County’s Hansel Valley.
The project would ultimately require up to 9 gigawatts of power—more electricity than the entire state of Utah currently uses, according to *The Guardian*, although O'Leary later told NBC News he would be willing to shrink the project.
Adams became a focal point for opposition after backing the development in his role leading a state authority that approved early plans for the site, drawing criticism from residents who said officials ignored local concerns.
Those concerns translated into political consequences.
Adams, who had previously won reelection comfortably, was defeated by a challenger who ran in part on opposing the project.
At the county level, commissioners who voted to advance the project also lost their primaries.
Data Center Concerns Become Political Issue
Data centers—once promoted by politicians as economic wins—are becoming a political liability for elected officials across the country, cutting across party lines and shaping election outcomes in ways few expected just a year ago.
A Reuters/Ipsos survey in June found that 57 percent of Americans would oppose a data center being built in their community, with just 14 percent comfortable living near one.
Meanwhile, a Gallup survey conducted earlier this year found that around seven in ten Americans oppose the construction of local data centers, highlighting a growing gap between national demand for AI infrastructure and local acceptance.
The projects promise jobs and tax revenue.
But they also bring concerns about water use, electricity demand, land use and taxpayer subsidies—issues that are now driving organised opposition and, increasingly, votes.
A Pew Research Center survey of more than 8,500 U.S. adults found Americans are far more likely to view data centers negatively when it comes to their impact on energy bills, environmental strain and nearby living conditions, with significantly more people saying they are bad rather than good for the environment and household electricity costs.
Across the United States, resistance to data centers has grown rapidly, with several cities and local governments moving to restrict or pause projects as opposition intensifies.
In Missouri, voters in April removed half of the Festus city council members after they backed a $6 billion data center proposal.
Rick Belleville, one of the local candidates who unseated a councilman who backed the data center, referred to the election results as an "uprising."
Data centers are also being used to drive midterms campaigns.
Florida GOP Gubernatorial hopeful James Fishback used the issue of data centers to attack competitor Bryon Donalds in a recent campaign ad.
"What ideas does Byron Donalds have for Florida... he wants to build data centers in every single county, and as governor, I'd ban them," James Fishback said in the video.
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