The AI data center backlash
Paul Gigot, Kim Strassel, Allyssia Finley, and Jason Riley discuss the growing progressive backlash against AI data centers. Citing environmental concerns, increased electricity prices, and potential job displacement, Bernie Sanders and AOC introduced legislation for a nationwide moratorium on new data center construction. The panel explores the economic implications and highlights the lack of clear evidence supporting claims of rising energy costs directly tied to data centers.
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Former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, once praised data center expansion, records show, even as he now runs on a platform opposing their development in a bid to return to the Senate.
In 2015, Brown put out a press release celebrating the construction of a third data center in Central Ohio
"This new data center is great news for New Albany and central Ohio. Amazon’s growth in central Ohio signals that this region is not only a great place to do business, but a place where people want to live and raise a family," Brown said.
Now, just over 10 years later, Brown is painting Ohio’s 226 data centers as a drain on the state’s resources — a reversal that demonstrates how many Democrats have aligned themselves on the issue to press the case for affordability.
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Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, is seen during senate votes in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, January 23, 2024. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
"Ohio’s electric grid — big corporations treat it like a game," Brown said in a recent campaign video.
"[They’re] gobbling up energy to feed their data centers no matter how much it raises our prices. It’s the latest way they’ve rigged the system."
Brown, who was originally elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, lost re-election in 2024 to Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. Now he is waging a comeback bid for Ohio’s other Senate seat against incumbent Sen. Jon Husted.
Husted, who has not yet won a full term in the Senate, was appointed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to fill the seat of now-former Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, when Trump tapped him to become vice president.
In the 2026 midterms, Democrats have hammered President Donald Trump and what they see as unfulfilled promises to bring down the cost of everyday items like food, fuel and housing.
While slightly removed from those specific items, an increasing number of Democrats, like Brown, have tied data centers to the issue, arguing that they do little to pay for their own costs in terms of water and electrical use. In their view, data centers are being subsidized by the communities where they’re being built.
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Democratic senate candidate, U.S. Sen. Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, addresses volunteers at a campaign office on Nov. 4, 2024 in Cleveland Heights, Ohio. (Stephen Maturen/Getty Images)
Debates remain about whether their consumption has meaningfully changed utility rates in local communities and, if so, whether the companies should pay for the costs of their consumption.
Brown said he would support legislation along those lines.
"I’ll require the data centers to pay the full cost of their own electricity — not you," Brown said.
Ohio, in particular, has become an increasingly important state in the data center conversation as companies like Amazon and Google have sought out state incentives for their construction.
In 2013, the state legislature passed tax exemptions for the "sale, storage, use or other consumption of computer data center equipment." The law gives the Ohio Tax Credit Authority (TCA) the power to approve tax exemptions for companies that invest more than $100 million over three consecutive years. Not all centers are automatically qualified to participate in the benefit and can receive a partial exemption.
The move has attracted sizable investment but also cost the state $1.6 billion in forgone revenue in 2025, according to the Ohio 2026-2027 Tax Expenditure Report.
It’s unclear if Brown would support more than just a requirement that data centers pay for their electricity and whether he would consider other legislation to slow their development. In his 2015 press release, Brown noted that the centers had created new job opportunities with their openings.
Senator Sherrod Brown, a Democrat from Ohio, during a campaign event at the Steubenville City Building in Steubenville, Ohio, US, on Friday, Oct. 11, 2024. (Justin Merriman/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
"I look forward to working to ensure that our region’s burgeoning logistics hub continues to grow – creating good jobs for Ohioans and helping businesses prosper," Brown wrote.
His office did not respond to requests for comment from Fox News Digital about the scope of his objections to data center developments in Ohio.
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Having secured his party’s nomination for the seat, Brown will face Husted in the state’s Nov. 3 general election.
Leo Briceno is a politics reporter for the congressional team at Fox News Digital. He was previously a reporter with World Magazine.
