A leaked Republican campaign memo is warning that opposition to artificial intelligence data centers could cost the GOP a crucial Senate seat in Ohio. The National Republican Senatorial Committee reportedly believes the issue has become a serious liability for Republican Senator Jon Husted as he faces former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown. The committee warned that a defeat in Ohio could also turn politicians across the country against future data center projects.
Husted and Brown are competing in the November 3rd special election for the Senate seat Husted currently holds. Brown has made data center development a major part of his campaign, portraying Husted as an ally of an industry increasingly associated with rising electricity costs and other strains on local communities. Husted previously helped recruit data center projects to Ohio but now argues that the companies should bear the costs created by their enormous power demands.
The concerns appeared in a private NRSC memo titled “Ohio Data Center Risk,” which Axios first obtained. An NRSC spokesperson subsequently confirmed the memo’s authenticity to the Daily Caller News Foundation and said it had been sent to artificial intelligence companies. The committee reportedly wants those companies to counter the increasingly negative image surrounding their facilities before the issue spreads beyond Ohio.
“If voters’ perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio,” the memo said, according to the Daily Caller’s report. The warning presents the Ohio contest as a potential turning point for an industry seeking to build massive new facilities across the country. Negative public opinion could make elected officials reluctant to approve developments or support the infrastructure needed to operate them.
Brown’s campaign attempted to pin the issue directly on Husted in a July advertisement. The ad called the Republican “the face of data centers in Ohio” and accused him of spending years aggressively recruiting the projects and fast-tracking tax deals. Husted’s connection to those developments has given Brown an opening in a state where Republicans have enjoyed considerable success during recent statewide elections.
Husted’s campaign pushed back by pointing to legislation the senator introduced to protect Ohio ratepayers. “Sen. Husted introduced legislation requiring data center companies to pay for the power they use and return excess electricity to the grid — a commonsense solution that supports America’s growing technology infrastructure while protecting reliable, affordable energy for Ohio families,” campaign spokesperson Amy Natoce told the DCNF. Natoce said decisions involving the facilities should also be handled at the local level.
The campaign also accused Brown of reversing his position when data centers became politically unpopular. “Sherrod Brown’s hypocrisy is glaring. After praising data center expansion and vowing ‘to ensure that our region’s burgeoning logistics hub continues to grow,’ Brown has done an election-year about-face,” Natoce said. She added that Brown “had 32 years in Washington to protect ratepayers” but was now “lying to Ohioans about his own record.”
"*" indicates required fields
Brown publicly welcomed an Ohio data center project in May 2015, calling the development good news for the state. “This new data center is great news for New Albany and central Ohio,” Brown said in a press release at the time. “Amazon’s growth in central Ohio signals that this region is not only a great place to do business, but a place where people want to live and raise a family.”
The warning surfaced days after OpenAI announced that it had joined the planned data center project at the PORTS-Pike Technology Campus in Pike County. OpenAI is working on the project with SB Energy, NVIDIA, and the Department of Energy. The company said the six-year buildout through 2032 is expected to create 35,000 construction jobs and that it would invest an additional $40 million in a community grant fund supporting priorities identified by local residents, building on SB Energy’s previously announced $40 million commitment.