President Donald Trump used the final days of August to make his most forceful case yet for the nationwide artificial intelligence data center buildout, warning American communities that turning developers away would leave them economically stranded compared with neighboring towns that welcome the projects. In a Truth Social post published Aug. 31, the president wrote that any town resisting a data center risked becoming "backwards and poor," while towns that welcomed the industry would see lower taxes and abundant jobs. He also framed the fight in geopolitical terms, suggesting that opposition to the projects only benefits China's own artificial intelligence ambitions.
The post landed the same week that Trump's own party has been grappling with rising voter anger over the facilities — a backlash that a National Republican Senatorial Committee memo has already tied to a tightening special election for an open U.S. Senate seat in Ohio.
Electricity Bills Fuel the Backlash
Much of the anger traces back to monthly power bills. Vice President JD Vance, speaking to reporters that same Monday while traveling to Michigan, offered a more sympathetic read of the opposition, saying rising utility costs — not the data centers themselves — are driving most of the pushback, and that developers should be "putting power back into the grid, not taking it out." Nationally, the data center boom has already pushed average wholesale power prices up somewhere between two and six percentage points, and Bureau of Labor Statistics figures show that the typical American household is now paying more than a third more for electricity than it was five years ago.
Public opinion has shifted sharply against the industry. A Gallup survey conducted in March found opposition to a local data center hovering near 71%, with close to half of respondents calling themselves strongly against the idea.
Trump has pushed back on the affordability argument directly. During an Aug. 23 broadcast of a radio interview with his former attorney Michael Cohen, the president insisted the newest facilities "are making their own power plants" rather than drawing down an aging grid, and argued that towns turning away developers are giving up jobs and tax revenue that other communities would gladly take. Independent reporting on the interview noted that while some data centers are building dedicated, off-grid generation, many others continue to draw electricity from the same public grid Trump described as the problem.
Texas Slams the Brakes, With Houston-Area Projects in Limbo
Nowhere has the standoff been sharper than in Texas, a state Gov. Greg Abbott has spent years marketing as the nation's data center capital. Abbott ordered state regulators in early August to halt new grid connections for the state's largest data center projects until the Public Utility Commission of Texas and grid operator ERCOT complete a sweeping review of each facility's water use, power draw, tax incentives and effect on surrounding communities. Medium-sized facilities are being surveyed but not paused outright, while the smallest projects are exempt entirely.
ERCOT has told regulators it expects to wrap up its verification work by December, meaning Houston-area projects still waiting on grid interconnection are effectively frozen for months. The financial impact is already visible in federal forecasting: the U.S. Energy Information Administration has cut its 2027 growth projection for Texas electricity demand roughly in half, from 14% down to 6%, citing the pause directly.
Texans themselves remain skeptical of the industry. An August University of Texas/Texas Politics Project poll put statewide opposition at 57%, essentially unchanged from a June survey by the same pollster. A separate Emerson College poll conducted in early August found opposition running slightly higher, at 60% — a gap the two pollsters have not reconciled.
New York and New Jersey Confront the Same Fight
The pattern is repeating across the Northeast. Gov. Kathy Hochul signed an executive order in mid-July creating the nation's first statewide freeze on new large-scale data centers, pausing state environmental permits for up to a year for any facility drawing 50 megawatts of power or more. Hochul said it was her "responsibility to take action and lead." Her office tied the move to the fact that New York's average residential electricity price has climbed nearly 68% since 2019, a figure first cited when the order was announced.
New Jersey hasn't adopted a moratorium of its own, but its residents aren't far behind on cost: federal pricing data compiled in May put the state's average residential rate at roughly 23 cents per kilowatt-hour, up nearly 14% from a year earlier.
Illinois' 'Data Center Capital' Feels the Squeeze
Illinois offers a preview of what happens once the bills arrive. Elk Grove Village, a Chicago suburb that has taken in more than 20 data centers over roughly 25 years and markets itself as the Midwest's data center hub, has recently seen residents packing public meetings to challenge the higher costs that have followed. Statewide, Illinois electricity prices climbed about 34% between 2021 and 2025, according to federal energy data. Gov. JB Pritzker had already paused the state's data center tax-incentive program administratively in June, and is now pressing lawmakers to formally freeze those incentives when they return for the fall veto session.
Florida and California Take Different Paths
South Florida hasn't seen a fight on the scale of Texas or New York, but state lawmakers took their own step in May, when Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a law requiring data center operators — rather than everyday ratepayers — to cover the full cost of the electrical infrastructure their facilities need. California, home to the nation's largest Latino population, already carries some of the country's highest residential electricity rates, though the state has not moved as aggressively as Texas or New York to restrict new construction.
A Political Problem With No Easy Off-Ramp
The dispute carries real electoral weight heading into November. Republican strategists have privately warned that voter frustration over the projects has pulled GOP Sen. Jon Husted into a tight special-election race against Democrat Sherrod Brown for Ohio's open Senate seat, and cautioned that the same dynamic could spread well beyond that one race. People close to the president have told reporters that his enthusiastic defense of the industry risks making him look out of touch with voters' frustration over their monthly bills.
For now, the administration is showing no sign of backing off, even as governors from both parties move to slow a buildout the president insists the country cannot afford to lose.
