{"id":1281,"date":"2026-07-31T11:07:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:07:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1281"},"modified":"2026-07-31T11:07:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-31T11:07:19","slug":"can-opposing-data-centers-help-progressives-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/movingandmortgagehub.com\/?p=1281","title":{"rendered":"Can Opposing Data Centers Help Progressives Win?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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When Donald Trump<\/span> came to Michigan last week to speak at a General Motors vehicle-testing facility, he likely expected to find a friendly crowd.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more France Had Never Seen a \u201cFire Cloud\u201d Until This Month\u2019s Record-Smashing Blazes<\/a><\/p>\n

That wasn\u2019t entirely the case. A group of protesters holding yellow signs that read \u201cstop data centers\u201d interrupted the president, chanting, \u201cData centers no, people pay the bill,\u201d until they were removed by security.<\/p>\n

Will Lawrence, a progressive Democratic candidate in Michigan\u2019s seventh congressional district\u2014where that General Motors plant is located\u2014was unsurprised by the protesters\u2019 fury. \u201cThat\u2019s what we\u2019re tapping into,\u201d he posted on social media.<\/p>\n

People across Michigan have pushed back on data center proposals in recent months, raising concerns about the facilities\u2019 energy demands. In response, Lawrence, a climate activist turned politician, has made opposition to hyperscale data centers central to his campaign. And he\u2019s betting that standing up to data centers will help him get votes from across the aisle, too.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cSince I declared my candidacy last August, we\u2019ve had four major data centers, including three hyperscalers, proposed in the district in Lansing, in Mason, in Howell Township, and in Lyon Township,\u201d Lawrence said at a panel discussion earlier this month. He has been attending township meetings as Michiganders try to stop the often-secretive data center permitting process in its tracks. MAGA Republicans and true-blue Democrats all stood up to protest, Lawrence said. \u201cIt became very clearly obvious to me that this is a totally cross-partisan rebellion that\u2019s happening from the bottom up.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

America\u2019s data center backlash refuses to stick cleanly to partisan boundaries, with opposition to data center buildout nearly as high among Republicans as it is among Democrats. In his first major TV ad, Lawrence took aim at \u201ctech billionaires\u201d who he said want to turn Michigan\u2019s farms into data centers that will \u201cjack up our energy bills and ruin our home values.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u00a0Lawrence is just one of a growing crop of progressive candidates who see, in opposing AI data center buildout\u2014and condemning the tech oligarchs behind it\u2014a path to victory.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFights all over the country about AI data centers and AI more broadly are shifting the usual political lines,\u201d said Saul Levin, a Michigan community organizer who runs a podcast about data centers called The Hum. That political shift is happening in battleground states like Michigan, but also in more clearly Democratic states like Colorado.\u00a0<\/p>

Read more The Next Victim of Trump\u2019s Political Prosecutions? Congressional Oversight.<\/a><\/p>\n

Melat Kiros, who recently won Denver\u2019s Democratic congressional primary, credits her win in part to her ability to vocalize constituents\u2019 anger about the data center permitting process, which can operate in near-total secrecy: companies often ask municipal decisionmakers to sign non-disclosure agreements, which can mean that people don\u2019t find out a data center is moving into their neighborhood until the process is half-complete.\u00a0<\/p>\n

That secrecy and anger can translate to votes. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of candidates that are making this a front and center issue and are winning as a result of it,\u201d Kiros said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In Memphis, Tennessee State Representative Justin J. Pearson has made opposition to Elon Musk\u2019s xAI data center, and its associated neighborhood-polluting gas turbines, a core part of his campaign for Congress. In his district, voters are worried about becoming sick thanks to Musk\u2019s data centers\u2014which Trump\u2019s Justice Department has thrown its weight behind.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Department of Justice intervened in a lawsuit against xAI, saying they should not have to conform to the Clean Air Act\u2014because Grok, which xAI powers, is being used to bomb Iran. \u201cThat\u2019s the logic,\u201d Pearson said. \u201cViolate the Clean Air Act, allow the pollution to kill American citizens because we\u2019re killing people overseas with this technology.\u201d And even in communities less directly affected by data centers than Memphis, populist opposition to their construction is gaining strength.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Candidates for governor in at least 12 states are running on data center moratoria, per Newsweek. Centrist Democrats, meanwhile, are more likely than ever to experience voter pushback when they\u2019re perceived to be overly friendly to data center developers. Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer appeared onstage with OpenAI\u2019s Sam Altman earlier this year, and was roundly condemned for doing so by Democratic and Republican constituents alike.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Some, like Lawrence, blame the governor in part for bringing the data centers to Michigan. \u201cHere in Michigan, the reason why this all started to arrive in late 2025 is because in late 2024 the state passed a set of tax breaks for data center development, and that was passed through the state legislature on a bipartisan basis and signed by our Democratic governor.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think people see that the ruling class is united behind this plan to push data centers in our communities,\u201d Lawrence said. \u201cThat\u2019s a place that you can fight from.\u201d<\/p>

Read more How Anti-ICE Protesters Became Prisoners in Trump\u2019s War on Antifa<\/a><\/p>\n<\/article>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Sunrise Movement cofounder says the issue unites people across the aisle. 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