In the upcoming midterm elections, voters are expected to register their frustration with Trump and their anxiety about the economy at the ballot box. In Ohio, one of the year's most competitive Senate races, that anxiety has attached itself to an unlikely target: data centers.
This post is part of MurMur’s ongoing series on the 2026 midterm elections. Read the rest of the series here.
The Race
Jon Husted, Ohio’s former lieutenant governor, was appointed to the U.S. Senate in January 2025 to fill the seat JD Vance left when he became vice president. This November’s special election will decide who serves the last two years of that term. His opponent is Sherrod Brown, who represented Ohio in the Senate for 18 years before losing the state’s other seat in 2024.
Trump carried Ohio by 11 points in 2024. Even so, the race is a toss-up, and Republicans are spending big to defend it. The Republican super PAC alone has pledged more for Husted than Brown’s entire campaign has raised.
Voters nationally are growing wary of the giant data centers built to power artificial intelligence, and in Ohio that unease has become a central issue in the campaign: a September poll found 70% of Ohio voters believe data centers are bad for the environment, and 65% say they hurt their community’s quality of life.
Data Centers in Ohio
Two things explain why data centers have become such a big issue in this race.
The state is home to more than 200 data centers, most built in the years before the AI boom. That existing footprint already coincided with a 55% rise in Ohioans’ electric bills between 2021 and 2026, well above the national average.
Backed by a state tax break that cost $1.57 billion in waived sales tax last year alone, more than 100 new data centers are now in Ohio’s pipeline. These aren’t like the ones already built: they run 5 to 10 times bigger, while creating relatively few permanent jobs. One proposed campus in Pike County alone would need 10 gigawatts, nearly a third of the power Ohio’s entire electric grid currently generates.
Many of these deals have also been negotiated under nondisclosure agreements, so residents learn about them only after the fact. Without state protections, communities have acted instead: at least 138 Ohio towns and townships have paused new data center construction, and 23 have effectively banned it.
The Current National Policy
Trump is a strong supporter of AI and the data centers that run it. He warned that communities rejecting them would end up “backwards and poor,” and suggested that people concerned about them were stupid.
So it’s no surprise the 2025 tax law Husted voted for lets companies deduct new equipment’s full cost immediately instead of over several years. It is especially valuable to hyperscale data centers, where equipment costs run into the tens of billions of dollars.
The Candidates’ Positions
For years, Husted was Ohio’s leading promoter of data centers. As lieutenant governor, he joined announcements of new projects and defended the tax breaks that came with them. That’s why voters hold him responsible for the state’s embrace of the industry, and its problems.
This summer, as Brown began running ads calling him “the face of data centers in Ohio,” Husted tried to blame Democrats, not data centers, for higher electricity rates.
At the same time, he said he no longer supports the state’s sales tax break for new data centers, and introduced federal legislation encouraging states to consider making data centers pay for the grid upgrades they require.
Brown would end the state’s data center tax breaks, require data centers to pay the full cost of their electricity, and let communities decide whether they get built. He has not said how he would do it or backed any of the federal bills addressing data centers. Despite pushback from the building trades unions that have long supported him, he hasn’t softened that position.
Neither candidate has proposed a federal policy that would resolve what’s actually driving voters’ anger. And neither supports the statewide pause on new construction that most Ohioans want.
What Happens Next
On November 3, voters in 18 Ohio communities will decide local data center measures, from zoning limits to outright bans, on the same ballot as the Senate race.
Those local votes will show what Ohioans want for their own communities, town by town, absent a state or federal answer. The Senate race will show who voters trust to represent their interests, including on data centers.
This is the fourth in a MurMur Impact series tracking how national policy is shaping key Senate races ahead of November’s midterms.
Sources
The Race and the Money
Wikipedia, 2026 U.S. Senate special election in Ohio — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2026_United_States_Senate_special_election_in_Ohio
The Hill, Cook moves Ohio Senate race to toss-up, April 2026 — https://thehill.com/homenews/5829228-senate-races-shift-democrats/
BGSU Poll, September 2026 — https://www.bgsu.edu/arts-and-sciences/democracy-and-public-policy-research-network/bgsu-poll.html
Axios Cleveland, Ohio ad spending, September 23, 2026 — https://www.axios.com/local/cleveland/2026/09/23/ohio-political-ads-brown-husted-2026-senate
U.S. News/Reuters, Brown and Husted fundraising totals, September 18, 2026 — https://www.usnews.com/news/politics/articles/2026-09-18/trump-linked-pop-up-pacs-blitz-ohio-with-ads-against-brown-in-costly-senate-race
Legis1, Senate Leadership Fund’s $79 million pledge for Husted, May 2026 — https://legis1.com/news/ohio-2026-senate-election-the-money-race-shaping
Ohio’s Data Center Boom
Axios Columbus, Ohio’s data center pipeline, March 2026 — https://www.axios.com/local/columbus/2026/03/04/ohio-data-center-boom-moratorium-laws
DMNews, Ohio’s data center tax break cost by year, August 2026 — https://dmnews.com/dmn-r-ohios-data-center-sales-tax-exemption-cost-the-state-nearly-1-6-billion-last-year-and-governor-dewine-has-now-frozen-it-through-the-end-of-his-term-leaving-the-next-governor-to-decide-whether-ta/
Department of Energy, Pike County data center fact sheet — https://www.energy.gov/articles/fact-sheet-department-energy-ensuring-affordable-energy-access-ohio-while-powering-future
Wikipedia, List of power stations in Ohio — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_power_stations_in_Ohio
Ohio Capital Journal / Capital & Main, Ohio electricity bills and legislature, September 22, 2026 — https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/09/22/candidates-rune-against-data-centers-but-ohio-legislature-didnt-get-the-memo/
Ohio Capital Journal, 138 local moratoriums, September 18, 2026 — https://ohiocapitaljournal.com/2026/09/18/ohio-now-has-over-125-active-moratoriums-on-data-centers-see-where-they-are/
National Policy and Trump
Gizmodo, Trump on communities rejecting data centers, August 2026 — https://gizmodo.com/trump-to-communities-fighting-data-centers-have-fun-being-poor-2000805020
Crooks and Liars, Trump’s September remarks on data center opposition — https://crooksandliars.com/2026/09/trump-calls-people-who-dont-want-data
Washington Post, Senate vote count on the 2025 tax law, July 2025 — https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/interactive/2025/07/01/senate-big-beautiful-bill-vote-count/
ITEP, OBBBA expensing and data centers — https://itep.org/big-tech-is-raking-in-enormous-tax-breaks-for-ai-development/
Utility Dive, House passes Ratepayer Protection Act, September 2026 — https://www.utilitydive.com/news/house-passes-ratepayer-protection-bill-data-centers/830658/
The Hill, Heinrich blocks Husted’s bill and offers the Grid Savings Act, September 17, 2026 — https://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/6096398-heinrich-blocks-husted-data-center-bill/
Husted’s Record
PolitiFact, Husted and data center tax incentives, September 23, 2026 — https://politifact.com/factchecks/2026/sep/23/sherrod-brown/jon-husted-pushed-for-data-centers-and-tax-incentives-in-ohio-as-sherrod-brown-ads-say/
Statehouse News Bureau, candidates recalibrate on data centers, August 17, 2026 — https://www.wvxu.org/2026-08-17/ohios-u-s-senate-candidates-recalibrate-their-stances-on-data-centers
CNBC, Husted’s Middletown remarks, August 21, 2026 — https://www.cnbc.com/2026/08/21/jon-husted-data-centers-ohio-senate.html
Brown’s Record
Cleveland Scene / Ohio Capital Journal, Brown’s data center positions, August 10, 2026 — https://www.clevescene.com/news/ohio-news/sherrod-brown-jon-husted-offer-contrasting-visions-for-data-centers/
Politico via Yahoo, Brown’s data center ads and labor allies, September 25, 2026 — https://www.yahoo.com/news/politics/articles/sherrod-brown-data-center-attacks-084500915.html