Data centers, AI increasingly become issue for elections

With the midterm elections approaching in November, one tech executive told The Center Square this week that many Americans, Californians included, are paying attention to the development of data centers and artificial intelligence.The issue has become a hot-button one, as voters across the country focus on how the construction or expansion of data centers could increase electricity costs and safety concerns for residential ratepayers in states like Pennsylvania and Tennessee, according to previous reporting by The Center Square. There are also concerns nationally about water usage.
“Given that we’re in the midst of these midterms, data centers and AI are a great villain,” Wannie Park, founder and CEO of Malibu-based energy management software company Pado AI, told The Center Square this week. “It’s very easy to vilify and say ‘We’re against this,’ so we’ll see what happens after the midterms and how people react.”
According to a September 2025 survey by Heatmap Pro, an energy intelligence platform, 44% of respondents across the country supported construction of a data center near where they lived, while 42% opposed it.
Among some of the reasons respondents in that survey gave for why they would support a data center coming to their neck of the woods, some said they wanted to see the expansion of renewable energy. Other responses included that they wanted data centers to help power the digital economy, the U.S. to win the AI race against China, because they wanted data centers to generate more tax revenue or because they wanted to see the creation of more high-paying jobs.
However, a significant number of respondents were often more skeptical of those reasons than the number of respondents who found those reasons to be convincing.
In California, there could actually be room on the grid, since data centers currently aren’t utilizing most of the state’s electrical capacity.
“When you start thinking about the grid itself, and when you start thinking about how data centers operate, it is just a case study of inefficiencies and underutilization,” Park said. “When you look at the three largest investor-owned utilities, PG&E [Pacific Gas & Electric], Southern California Edison and probably [Sacramento Municipal Utility District], historically, they’re only utilizing the capacity of the grid 40%.”
Most of the year, the grid is underutilized, Park said. With the advent of technology like solar power and electric vehicles, the grid has to support volatile peak loads to prevent blackouts, according to the Pado AI founder.
“A lot of these data centers are being re-purposed and reconditioned for AI,” Park said. “What that means is you need more power-hungry EDUs for Nvidia. You need more cooling to support that power hunger, and you also need more power and consistent, non-stop, 24/7 baseload power.”
The demand on power is one reason for the moratoriums on the expansion and construction of data centers in California, Park said.
“You read a lot about how these developers need to foot the bill on the infrastructure,” Park said. “It’s not going to get waterfalled down to ratepayers or residential energy users.”
Cities throughout the state have taken actions on the data center issue as the expansion of AI technology continues to grow. Sacramento Mayor Kevin McCarty said this week that the state capital is keeping tabs on data center expansion.
“With growing interest and concern around data centers, I want Sacramento to be prepared if a project comes our way,” McCarty told The Center Square via email. “We will be bringing forward a policy that considers potential impacts on our energy, water, infrastructure and neighborhoods, and the guardrails we would need to put in place to protect Sacramento residents.”
The issue has not escaped the attention of the California governor, either. Gov. Gavin Newsom signed an executive order this week that would require AI developers to create a “kill switch” for advanced AI models, and requires companies to periodically perform audits and evaluations of their AI technology. It also requires that companies report incidents in which they lose control of their AI technology, among other requirements.
“We’re not waiting to act – we’re going to speed up our work on substantial and responsible AI oversight before it’s too late,” the Democratic governor said in a press release sent from his office. “We’re going to do this thoughtfully but with urgent velocity. The stakes are too high to wait or delay action.”
Republican and Democratic lawmakers who have authored legislation regarding artificial intelligence and data centers did not respond to The Center Square on Friday or declined interviews. Organizations that do research on AI also did not respond to The Center Square.

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