President Trump posted on Truth Social that communities fighting AI data centers are choosing to be "backwards and poor," and that embracing them instead means "far lower taxes and jobs all over the place." He warned that rejecting data centers only helps China. AI infrastructure investment is now the single biggest driver of U.S. GDP growth. It has roughly doubled as a share of the economy in a year. It's also driving about half of the country's electricity demand growth. A Gallup poll found 71% of Americans don't want one built near them.

1. Data Centers Are the Golden Goose (President Trump, Build American AI)

Data centers are the golden goose, and rejecting them is economic self-sabotage.

Trump says the choice is rich or poor. "The only reason that communities throughout the U.S.A. should not want Data Centers is if they want to end up being backwards and poor," he wrote, adding that embracing them means "far lower taxes and jobs all over the place."

He's framing this as a China problem too. Trump warned that if towns "kill the Golden Goose," they'll have only themselves to blame, and that China "could not be happier" watching American communities reject data centers.

The industry is spending to make his case for him. Build American AI, a group tied to the Andreessen Horowitz- and Greg Brockman-backed "Leading the Future" super PAC network, has about $50 million on hand for ads and grassroots outreach aimed at persuading voters in Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin to accept data centers in their backyards.

2. But It's the Bill That Matters, Not the Buildings (Sen. Josh Hawley, Mike Rogers)

This is about who pays the electric bill and who owns the power, not local control.

Hawley wants data centers to pay their own costs. "American families should not have to shoulder the burden of the rising electricity costs produced by data centers," he's said, and he and Sen. Richard Blumenthal have introduced the GRID Act, which would force data centers to build their own power generation off the public grid, give households first priority on the grid over data centers, and bar utilities from raising consumer rates to cover data-center power costs.

He also frames it as a monopoly problem. Hawley warns of "a handful of companies" assembling "a concentration of capital, information, and political power without precedent in the American experience."

Republican candidates are breaking with Trump over it. Mike Rogers, the GOP's Michigan Senate nominee, has endorsed a one-year moratorium on new data-center projects in the state. The National Republican Senatorial Committee is worried too: it's flagged Sen. Jon Husted's data-center-friendly record as a liability in his own special election.

Even Trump's own supporters pushed back on his post. Replies under his "backwards and poor" comment included "I'm already on a water restriction" and "I regret ever supporting you."

3. Still, Most People Just Don't Want One Nearby (Abdul El-Sayed, Will Lawrence)

People don't want these things near their homes, and the numbers back them up.

El-Sayed says it bluntly. The Michigan Senate Democratic nominee says people "really effing hate data centers." He's released "terms of engagement" requiring job guarantees, no utility rate hikes, and environmental protections before any data center can operate in the state, after at least 15 projects went up for proposal there in the past year.

Lawrence ran on stopping them and won. The DSA-aligned candidate who took Michigan's 7th District Democratic primary campaigned on a pledge to "stop AI data centers," running ads that accused his opponent of wanting to turn a specific field in Mason, Michigan into one.

The polling backs up the opposition. Gallup found 71% of Americans oppose a data center in their own area — more than the 53% who oppose a nearby nuclear plant. Their worries center on water, energy, pollution and quality of life. Nationally, local opponents blocked or delayed 75 projects worth about $130 billion in just the first three months of 2026, matching all of 2025's opposition in one quarter.

Where This Lands

Trump and the industry are betting that GDP numbers and a $50 million ad campaign can outrun local anger. Hawley's wing of the GOP wants data centers to exist but pay their own power costs, while the progressive wing wants tighter controls or outright moratoriums, and both are running candidates on the issue. Every camp agrees this fight is now on the ballot: Rogers, El-Sayed and Lawrence are all campaigning on data-center positions in the same election cycle, from three different directions.

Sources