Deep-red Texas is cracking over AI data centres, and lifelong Republicans say the ballot box is the only weapon they have left.
Rena Schroeder voted for Ronald Reagan in her first presidential election. Cheryl Shadden spent decades pulling Republican ballots without question. Both women are now threatening to hand their votes to Democrats in the November 2026 midterms, citing sprawling AI infrastructure projects that they say are consuming rural land, spiking electricity bills and poisoning the silence of communities that chose to live far from city noise.
