Lars Schönander

Tuesday's election results will have sweeping impacts on America's data center boom. Our team at Cleanview analyzed the data and found that newly elected governors could pause 41% of America’s planned data centers. Here are some more takeaways from last night's results: On Tuesday, voters elected governors and passed local measures that will change the course of the AI infrastructure boom. But much of the early coverage has been misleading or wrong. Tuesday’s results don’t signal the end of the data center boom. They will, however, likely bring a pause in some of the largest markets and new regulations across the country—even in traditionally laissez-faire states like Texas. 159 GW of planned data centers are in states where the new governor backs a pause. That's 41% of the country's planned data center pipeline. Another 69.2 GW (18%) is in states where the winner wants to change tax breaks or other rules but hasn’t backed a pause. This week’s elections will also impact the power projects that data centers depend on, likely bringing more clean energy in some states and fewer on-site gas plants in others. On-site gas plants will likely face new rules and delays. To build an on-site gas plant, a developer needs an air permit. That approval often goes through offices controlled by the executive branch, which means new Democratic governors could delay or block those permits. Developers may need to buy more clean energy. A number of candidates campaigned on a promise to make data centers buy more clean energy. David Crowley in Wisconsin called for 100% renewable energy as a condition for communities that accept a project. Haaland’s plan calls for self-built renewables. Michigan Democrats have proposed a bill requiring 90% clean procurement. Another takeaway from last night: Local elections went overwhelmingly against data centers. Data centers were directly on the ballot in 41 local elections across the country. Some ballot initiatives proposed outright bans, while others proposed temporary pauses. All of the races that have been called went against data centers. Many questions remain about how many newly elected officials will follow through with their pauses, how long they'll last, which projects will be affected, and what new guardrails would look like. We're planning to continue to cover this over the coming months. If you're interested in reading our analysis subscribe to the Cleanview newsletter or follow along here.