In an extraordinary show of grassroots resistance, voters in 46 of 47 local referendums across the country in 2026 backed restrictions on data center development or rejected measures designed to support such projects.

That near-unanimous ballot box verdict coincides with a separate finding that Republican-leaning counties hosting large data centers drifted measurably toward Democrats in last week’s midterm elections.

A new analysis from Humans First, a conservative AI safety group, examined public election returns and data center project records covering 1,540 counties spread across 16 states.

The group found that deep-red counties with large data center operations shifted an additional 2.2 percentage points toward Democrats compared with similar counties in the same states that host no such projects.

The pattern was not isolated to a handful of outliers, appearing in 14 of the 16 states studied and in 25 of the 27 Senate and governor races included in the analysis.

Republican vote totals in deep-red host counties fell an additional 1.1 percentage points relative to comparable non-host counties, while Democratic vote totals showed no statistically significant movement.

Among deep-red counties where data center projects remain in the proposal stage, a 1.1-point gap persisted even after researchers controlled for population size, racial and ethnic composition, urban or rural status, and recent voting trends.

Humans First Chairwoman Amy Kremer argued the electoral signal reflects something visceral rather than partisan, pointing to deals she says were cut without community input.

“In many places across the country, developers and companies have gone in and cut deals behind closed doors, under a cloak of darkness, using nondisclosure agreements and shell companies,” Kremer told Fox News Digital.

She placed the data center issue alongside fuel costs and trade policy as a pocketbook grievance capable of mobilizing otherwise reliable Republican voters, saying, “When you talk about Iran and gas prices, tariffs and now the AI data center buildout, all of these costs are coming out of people’s pockets.”

The group also identified 114 proposed large data center projects spread across 92 deep-red counties, a pipeline it says could generate further political turbulence well before the next election cycle.

Humans First’s September bus tour, which it branded a “Data Center Revolt,” made 35 stops across 27 states, with nine of those stops falling in deep-red counties that each hosted a large data center project.

Those nine counties shifted 2.2 percentage points further toward Democrats after accounting for the analysis’s controls, compared with a 0.75-point movement among deep-red host counties broadly, and showed no comparable gap in the 2020-to-2024 period.

The memo acknowledged its findings demonstrate an association rather than a direct causal link, and county-level data cannot determine whether Republicans switched parties or simply stayed home.

The broader energy picture adds context to local frustrations: the Energy Department estimated data centers consumed 4.7 percent of U.S. electricity in 2024 and, in a reference scenario, could reach 11.8 percent by 2030.

The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission has instructed regional grid operators to address the risk of large electricity users shifting infrastructure costs onto ordinary ratepayers, though no direct link has been established between data centers and higher household bills in the counties Humans First examined.

At least 38 states offer incentives specifically tailored to data center investment, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, including equipment-tax exemptions and, in some states, relief on electricity or property taxes.

The Data Center Coalition, an industry trade group, contends those incentives are comparable to what other capital-intensive industries receive and maintains that data centers deliver jobs, investment, and expanded tax revenue to host communities.

Humans First does not advocate for a blanket national or statewide moratorium, with Kremer insisting the decision should rest with individual communities rather than higher levels of government.

“I hope we can get on the right page and give local control back to communities,” she said. “People should have a say in how they live and what goes into their communities.”