Data centers become a midterm election issue, even in Brooklyn, five days before US vote
At a Brooklyn event ahead of the US midterm elections on November 3, nearly every conversation turned to AI and data centers. The founder of media company Newsreel says AI has become an election issue for ordinary voters.
On Thursday evening, a media and tech industry event focused on the US midterm elections of November 3 took place in a Brooklyn warehouse in New York City. Nearly every conversation there drifted to artificial intelligence, data centers and growing resentment toward the technology elite. The event was hosted five days before the vote by Newsreel, a media company founded by Jack Brewster, a former Forbes and Newsweek reporter. The article's author, a tech reporter, moderated a panel on data centers.
Growing opposition
A report from Data Center Watch found that almost $200 billion in data center projects were delayed, stalled or blocked in the first half of 2026 because of political and community opposition. Pennsylvania, Georgia, Texas, New York and Virginia are weighing more guardrails and transparency. Hundreds of new data centers are planned in Virginia alone, a state nicknamed the "data center capital of the world."
Discussions at the event
New York City Council member Chi Ossé said tech executives should be held more accountable and that trillionaires such as Elon Musk should be taxed more. When the moderator asked who in the room was pro-AI data center, the crowd booed. Technology and human rights researcher Maia Woluchem and environmental and public health advocate Hilary Flint discussed concerns about apparent secret deals between big tech and local officials, and zoning rules that obscure what is being built until it is too late to protest. Flint said people protest because they value their lives more than a temporary check.
In the next panel, on the future of the Democratic Party, NewsNation host Batya Ungar-Sargon noted that some labor unions back data centers for the jobs they promise. Political strategist Morris Katz and Vox's Astead Herndon were skeptical, with Herndon pointing to a lack of consent.
Brewster said AI came up in every stage conversation and was the second most common topic in questions sent by attendees when they registered. In his view, rural backlash is about feeling replaced, while in Brooklyn it is more about who gets rich from the technology.
