Maine's data center backlash becomes a deciding issue in the fight for the US Senate
Days before the US midterm elections, the buildout of AI data centers has become one of the most volatile campaign issues in Maine. Republican Sen. Susan Collins, who is seeking reelection, has drawn heavy donations from the tech industry.
In the US state of Maine, the rapid spread of AI data centers has become one of the hottest campaign issues just days before the midterm elections. The topic surfaced in the final debate between incumbent Republican Sen. Susan Collins and her Democratic challenger Troy Jackson, when an audience member shouted that data centers were damaging the climate and poisoning water. The result will help decide which party controls the US Senate and will shape federal policy on data centers and AI.
Local resistance
In April, Maine lawmakers passed a bill that would have created the first statewide moratorium on large data centers, but Gov. Janet Mills vetoed it 10 days later. Towns across the state have since adopted temporary moratoriums or put the question to voters in November. In a September poll by UMass Lowell and YouGov, 76 percent of respondents opposed building a data center in their community, and 58 percent were strongly opposed.
Maine attracts the industry with cheap land, vacant mills and plentiful water. Economic research indicates most data centers create virtually no net employment after construction. Researcher Molly White says voters link them to rising utility costs, while University of Maine political scientist Mark Brewer notes that former mill towns have long accepted extractive industries for the jobs they offered.
Money in the race
Collins, 73, chairs the Senate Appropriations Committee. She has broadly supported data centers and AI, while saying each should be judged individually, and secured $6.2 million in federal funding for a data center in central Maine. According to White's tracker, she has received $325,644 from AI and crypto donors. Investments linked to AI and data centers held in her husband's name are estimated at $300,000 to $800,000.
A Maine Monitor report says that as of mid-October, $54 million had been spent or committed on negative ads, nearly all by outside PACs. Jackson stresses guardrails for AI and data center development and union jobs in the sector.
