The data-center backlash has broken into the midterms but the industry’s problem is larger than communications: America needs a new bargain

Mark Drapeau is founding partner of Veleonis and editor in chief of the Data Catalyst Institute. (Credit: courtesy of Mark Drapeau)

On CNBC’s Squawk Box recently, pollster Frank Luntz was asked how to “sell data centers to voters.” President Trump said a day earlier that the industry could use “a little public relations help.” Both treat the backlash as a communications problem. The deeper problem is the bargain communities are being asked to accept.

Opposition to AI data centers is scrambling midterm races from Ohio to Wyoming. Candidates in both parties are distancing themselves from projects their leaders once courted. In Pennsylvania, Gov. Josh Shapiro removed AI data centers from the state’s fast-track program, which coordinates agency reviews to speed major projects. He also required local approval, enforceable commitments on power, water and community benefits, and barred state agencies from using nondisclosure agreements that can hide project terms.