Across the US and the political spectrum, candidates are embracing a growing backlash to artificial intelligence and the infrastructure required to power it - a resistance shaking up races from the local level to the highest national offices, a CNN analysis of campaign ads found.More than $31 million (NZ$52m) has been spent on political ads mentioning data centres so far this year, spiking last month, when more than 8 percent of all campaign spending on broadcast TV went to data centre or AI-related spots, according to tracking from the firm AdImpact. That's up significantly from less than 1 percent of ads last year.Those ads, which came from candidates and groups of both political parties, were united in their overwhelming criticism of data centres - more than 99 percent of the spending this year went to spots against AI infrastructure projects.In Michigan, a congressional hopeful filmed an ad from a farm field he said was at risk of being replaced by "a massive data centre that'll jack up our energy bills and ruin our home values."In suburban Missouri, both leading GOP candidates for a county executive seat spent their entire TV ad budgets vowing to stop data centres and accusing each other of being beholden to developers.And two different candidates in Wisconsin and California who happen to share a first name have both recently been mocked as "Data Centre David" by their opponents."Data centres have picked up a unique bipartisan opposition in large part because they are so local as an issue," said Daniel King, a research fellow at the Foundation for American Innovation. "Regardless of where party lines fall at the national level or on larger issues, both sides have been able to really pick up the spike."Facing that onslaught of negative political advertising, interest groups related to the AI industry have scrambled to pour millions into key races, federal election records show.Yet those industry ads rarely discuss the AI industry or infrastructure. One major super PAC funded in part by an OpenAI executive bought millions in ads this year without mentioning AI or data centres in any of its broadcast spots, CNN's review found.In the lead-up to a bruising midterm battle for control of Congress, the data on ad spending points to a frantic rush by both parties to position themselves correctly on a critical jump-ball debate. Even major lawmakers who aren't facing challenges are tacking toward more restrictive rules on data centres or even moratoriums on their construction."It isn't intrinsically a right or left issue," said Clifford Young, the chair of research firm Ipsos Public Affairs. "It's a boogeyman for everyone. It plays into this underlying belief that the system is broken."A new political battlegroundAs demand for the computer processing that powers artificial intelligence has skyrocketed, big tech companies are scrambling to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on new infrastructure - including on more than 2000 data centres in planning stages, according to the tracking firm Cleanview.Until recently, that construction boom was a political non-issue. In 2024, there wasn't a single election ad on broadcast TV that mentioned data centres, according to AdImpact's database, and in most of 2025, only a handful discussed them, largely in down-ballot state races.But over the last year, there's been a tectonic shift in public sentiment, driven by scepticism about the industry and concerns over property rights, environmental impacts and especially spiking utility bills.The data centres that run AI use powerful computing chips that are more energy-intensive than previous generations, which could lead to a 6 percent rise in electricity bills nationally over the next year, a Goldman Sachs analysis projected, with the biggest jumps for those living near data centres.A Fox News poll in July found 70 percent of voters oppose building data centres in their area to support AI. In a Reuters/Ipsos poll from June, 59 percent of adults said they'd oppose a data centre being built within 10 miles (16km) of their home. And a Pew Research survey released this month found "52 percent of Americans say they are more concerned than excited about the increased use of AI in daily life - up from 37 percent in 2021," with a large majority expecting AI to decrease the number of jobs.Sections of the Stargate Oracle AI data centre undergoes construction on 26 August 2026 in Abilene, Texas.BRANDON BELLPoliticians from both parties have taken note of that shift - and the issue has now moved to centre stage in some of the most impactful races in this year's midterms.In his previous role as lieutenant governor, Husted recruited the tech industry to Ohio - pre-AI boom, when the issue was relatively uncontroversial. In 2019, he hailed a new $600 million Google data centre as "great news for our state." Ohio is now home to more than 200 data centres, according to the Data Centre Map tracking project, ranking sixth nationally.That's fuelling Brown's attacks, as outlined in a recent National Republican Senatorial Committee strategy memo obtained by CNN, which notes that "the new ingredient (and the new problem) is data centres.""Brown is using it because it works," the memo notes. "More than any other thing in this race, data centres are the anchor hanging around Husted's neck."Since July, Brown's campaign has put more than $3.5 million behind three separate TV spots hammering Husted on data centres, per AdImpact, running thousands of times. In the ads, Brown blames Husted as a "a chief reason Ohio has so many data centres," and pledges to "require the data centres pay the full cost of their electricity, not you.""He's been called the face of data centres in Ohio," says one ad from Brown targeting Husted.Husted has tried to recalibrate. Last month, he introduced the "Ratepayer Protection Act," legislation aimed at limiting data centres' impact on residential electric bills. In a statement, a campaign spokesperson said that Husted believes "data centres are, and should remain, a local decision," and accused Brown of flip-flopping on the issue.In the state's competitive race for governor, Republican Vivek Ramaswamy and Democrat Amy Acton have also strained to outdo each other with multi-point plans imposing strict regulations on tech companies and protections for residents.In Wisconsin, with its own hotly contested gubernatorial race, data centres have also become a defining issue. Though it has far fewer data centres than Ohio, Wisconsin hosts several massive developments, including a 315-acre Microsoft campus in Mount Pleasant touted as "the world's most powerful AI datacentre," and plans for a sprawling 672-acre facility in Port Washington, backed by Oracle and OpenAI.In a close Democratic primary, state Rep. Francesca Hong emphatically backed a data centre moratorium, contrasting her stance with Milwaukee County executive David Crowley's more measured regulation pitch. "Unlike the other candidates, I'm not bought by corporations, so I'll actually stop AI data centres," Hong said in one of her ads.After Crowley prevailed, his Republican opponent, Rep. Tom Tiffany, picked up where Hong - a democratic socialist - left off. He's hammered Crowley over data centres with a campaign ad nicknaming him "Data Centre David Crowley," featuring a clip of him touting Wisconsin's potential to be "an AI and a data hub ... for the entire globe." Tiffany's ad touts his support for eliminating state tax incentives for the industry.Crowley has hit back by vowing to "hold data centres accountable and make them pay," and criticising Tiffany's support for legislation that could have preempted states' ability to regulate AI (language which was dropped from the final bill).In a statement, Crowley said that "when I'm governor, I am going to aggressively protect Wisconsin citizens from the abuses of these big tech billionaires and their unregulated data centres."Data centre resistance has powered other grassroots candidates nationally. Will Lawrence, a climate activist who unexpectedly won the Democratic nomination in Michigan's toss-up 7th District, ran TV ads pledging to "stop AI data centres," and credited that focus for his success.Abdul El-Sayed won Michigan's Democratic Senate primary the same night as Lawrence, campaigning on extensive new standards for data centres. And earlier this month, El-Sayed's GOP opponent, former Rep. Mike Rogers, said he now supports a one-year moratorium on building new data centres.These advertising battles are also playing out on the most local levels, the AdImpact data shows.In the GOP primary for county executive of St. Charles County, Missouri, earlier this year, 99 percent of campaign spending on broadcast TV mentioned data centres, with both leading candidates accusing their rival of supporting data centre proposals. The county last month passed a six-month moratorium on large-scale data centres and one of its largest cities recently banned new developments."No one wants to live next to a giant behemoth," said Kara Elms, a local resident who was among those protesting the data centres. "Both Democrats and Republicans can jump on that issue."Big tech fights backAI companies and industry allies are also lining up to shift the political momentum before the midterms.Tech giants like Meta, Google and Anthropic, a prominent venture capital firm, and top AI executives have donated more than $190 million to super PACs and nonprofits that have spent over $60 million on independent expenditures in the midterm elections so far.Super PAC Leading The Future has taken in $50 million from the Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, plus another $25 million from OpenAI president Greg Brockman and his wife, Anna. Through June, it's reported spending nearly $45 million, often directed at candidates taking a hard line on AI and data centre regulation, according to Federal Election Commission records.In the crowded Democratic primary for New York's 12th congressional district, the group and its proxies spent millions against state Assemblyman Alex Bores, who led a novel effort to regulate the industry in the state legislature. He lost the nomination to Assemblyman Micah Lasher.Notably, Leading the Future's ads have avoided AI or data centres. While two of its proxy groups, American Mission and Think Big, have spent a combined $8 million on broadcast TV ads in races around the country so far this year, none have mentioned AI or data centres, AdImpact's tracking shows. Instead, they've touted candidates as a "proven fighter" or highlighted endorsements from President Donald Trump.Similarly, California Leads, a group funded by Meta and Google, has spent more than $1.5 million on broadcast ads supporting moderate candidates in state legislative elections, but avoided mentioning tech, AI or data centres.One industry heavyweight has taken a different approach. Public First Action, a nonprofit advocacy group backed by $40 million from Anthropic, says it supports robust AI regulations aimed at safety and responsible development, and has spent more than $10 million along with affiliated super PACs on ads this cycle.It has boosted lawmakers like Bores, and addressed AI policy head-on, such as one ad for Texas GOP Rep. Nathaniel Moran highlighting his bill to increase AI regulations. "No technology should be more powerful than the people it serves," a voiceover declared.A person holds up a sign on a pedestrian bridge during a nationwide protest against AI data centre expansion in Berkeley, California on 18 July 2026.JOSH EDELSONSeveral other tech giants have been airing more general ads to encourage support for their data centre projects outside of the fever pitch of election contests.In 2025, Meta spent more than $6 million on broadcast ads promoting jobs created by its data centres in Iowa and New Mexico. More recently, Oracle aired similar ads, featuring young women in coffeeshops talking directly into the camera about new jobs and investments that come with the company's new projects."It's a data centre, done right," a spokeswoman declared in several of the ads.A bipartisan pivot on data centresPoliticians already in office are urgently moving to avoid blame from voters alarmed by AI. Several prominent governors eyeing upcoming reelection have embraced calls for data centre pauses and moratoriums - creating strange political bedfellows.Both the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, and the Democratic governor of New York, Kathy Hochul, have backed versions of a data centre pause - particularly consequential in their large states with major economies.Hochul signed a one-year moratorium on new large-scale data centres in July, the first of its kind in the nation, explaining at an event that the move would "give us some breathing room" amid perhaps "the most significant economic upheaval in history."Abbott, like Husted, was once a key industry ally - helping grow Texas into a national leader with 537 data centres, second only to Virginia, during his three terms as governor. Now, he favours pausing construction on new data centres pending an audit of their electricity and water usage. "Simply put, Texans must come first," he said.His pivot illustrates the changing incentives, even for traditionally business-friendly Republicans.Potential presidential hopefuls like Democratic Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro are also shifting. In 2025, he welcomed a $20 billion investment from Amazon, remarking that his state was "all in on AI." Now, this month, he announced an executive order restricting the development of data centres, eliminating fast-track approvals and expanding the review process - though he stopped short of an outright ban. Shapiro accused data centre builders of "scaring our communities, being aggressive with township officials," and "bullying our neighbours."Cementing his pivot, he launched an attack ad this month against GOP opponent Stacy Garrity, replaying clips of her saying that "we could be the leader in AI."Geopolitics is also driving the conversation. Defence hawks and other security-minded lawmakers focused on competition with China argue that limiting data centre development could harm American progress and forfeit leadership in the critical sector. On the campaign trail in Michigan this month, Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said that "a broad moratorium against data centres is kind of a dangerous prospect right now."And Trump, despite his penchant for populism, has taken a position as a data centre advocate and AI accelerationist. "Many of them are designed in a very beautiful way," the president commented earlier this month. "It's really very positive."But with characteristic bluntness, he also noted, "I would say that maybe it could use a little public relations help."-CNN