The margins were wide where results were reported. Morgan County, Illinois, voted 88.3 percent for restrictions and Nottingham, New Hampshire, 90.3 percent. In the roughly 256,000 votes counted nationwide by Wednesday evening, about 77 percent favored restrictions. Polls cited around the election put opposition to data centers at 69 to 76 percent of Americans or voters.

The measures took many forms. Ohio had the most activity, with 13 or 14 municipalities approving bans or limits, including caps on facilities above 25 megawatts. Voters in Piqua recalled officials who had backed a $1 billion Meta project with 1.4 gigawatts of capacity, and more than 80 percent of Ashville voters rejected a data center already under construction. Not every Ohio vote went one way: Wilmington voters approved four questions allowing a specific project. El Dorado, Kansas, banned facilities above 10 megawatts for 10 years. Wells, Maine, passed a 180-day moratorium backdated to mid-June, and Bloomington, Illinois, and Edgewater, Florida, approved moratoriums with 78 and 77 percent support. In Janesville, Wisconsin, voters now must approve by majority any project of $450 million or more at a former General Motors site.

The issue also shaped statewide races. In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott on a platform that includes a statewide moratorium until resident protections are in place, and state Rep. James Talarico flipped the Senate seat over Attorney General Ken Paxton. Elon Musk had spent more than $200 million backing Paxton. In Ohio, Sherrod Brown won the Senate seat after labeling his opponent, Jon Husted, "the face of data centers." Nevada Attorney General Aaron Ford took the governorship from Joe Lombardo, whom he called "data center Joe," and Democrat Annie Andrews flipped a South Carolina Senate seat while supporting a two-year moratorium. In Michigan, Senator-elect Abdul El-Sayed called for a pause "until we can do it safely and with federal protections."

The result was not uniformly partisan. Republican Byron Donalds won Florida's governorship with 50 percent of the vote, after introducing a Protecting Ratepayers Act that would make developers pay for their own energy and water. Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, a Democrat, won re-election after signing an order barring nondisclosure agreements and removing AI data center proposals from fast-track status. Iowa's Rob Sand and Georgia's Rick Jackson did not back outright bans but faced pressure to add guardrails or end tax subsidies. In Maine, the legislature passed what would have been the first statewide moratorium, and the governor vetoed it. Democrat Troy Jackson then ousted Republican Sen. Susan Collins.

President Donald Trump opposes moratoriums and has promised tax revenue and jobs from the buildout. Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez have called for a national one.

Public opinion has moved in the past year. The share of Americans who consider data centers mostly bad for the environment rose from 39 percent in January to 54 percent in August, according to the Pew Research Center. A Bentley University-Gallup survey found the share seeing AI as a net benefit to society fell from 13 percent in 2024 to 9 percent. Data Center Watch counted 45 projects worth about $68 billion disrupted by local opposition in the second quarter alone.

The industry is still spending at scale. Amazon, Microsoft, Alphabet and Meta are projected to spend $720 billion to $740 billion combined on capital expenditures this year. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced 24 new data centers across five continents last quarter, and Amazon CEO Andy Jassy expects cloud revenue growth of 40 percent or more in 2027 and 2028, driven by AI. Amazon has launched a $1 billion "Built Together" pledge for host communities, and Microsoft has offered to cover power infrastructure costs. Baron Fung of the Dell'Oro Group said the buildout will continue, but companies face delays and may have to take on more of the financial and energy burden.