Missouri Sen. Josh Hawley threw his support behind a nationwide data center moratorium, becoming the first Senate Republican to join a push previously led by progressive Democrats.
“Senate Republicans trying to figure out what to do in the next 6 weeks?” Hawley wrote in a post on X. “MORATORIUM on data centers.”
The announcement follows a midterm election cycle where Democrats flipped seats in Republican strongholds across the nation to gain control of both the House and the Senate. Residents cited tanking property values, utility bill hikes, water shortages, smog-forming air pollution, and constant humming noises as key reasons for their opposition.
In Hawley’s home state of Missouri, the backlash has built for months. The town of Independence voted in September to recall a long-term City Council member over his support for AI data center tax breaks.
Senate Republicans trying to figure out what to do in the next 6 weeks? Here you go: DEFUND Planned Parenthood MORATORIUM on data centers SUSPEND the gas tax FUND rural hospitals SAVE AMERICA ACT
President Trump dismissed the growing anti-AI sentiment during earlier campaign stops, claiming that opposing communities would end up “backwards and poor,” and telling protestors that “you can’t fight it.” Some Republican lawmakers went as far as calling the movement a foreign influence operation led by the Chinese government.
The midterms proved that opposing data center restrictions is a political liability. Voters passed 40 of 41 ballot measures restricting data center construction, including seven municipalities that voted to permanently ban new builds.
In Texas, a leading state for data center development, voters elected their first Democratic governor since the 1990s. Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa spent a large portion of her campaign promising an immediate moratorium on data centers.
Palantir began hiring former Democratic lawmakers and government officials to manage the impending scrutiny. Meanwhile, OpenAI changed its stance on controversial construction practices, promising to cover the electricity and energy infrastructure costs of new projects.
“Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now,” Elon Musk posted on X the morning after election day.
