--- title: The Wave Changed the Referees. Power Still Decides the Game. description: Voters turned data centers into a ballot issue. Where AI infrastructure gets built next now depends on power, permits and who pays for the grid. image: https://aruon.ai/hubfs/transmission-tower-data-center-golden-hour.png --- [Skip to content](https://aruon.ai/blog/the-wave-changed-the-referees-power-still-decides-the-game#main-content) [☎  Tap to call — 833-545-7058](tel:+18335457058) Answered 24/7 · English & Spanish [ARUON INTELLIGENT BUSINESS PLATFORM](https://aruon.ai/) [Home](https://aruon.ai/) [How it Works](https://aruon.ai/how-it-works) [Talk with Aruon](https://aruon.ai/start-a-call) [Contact Us](https://aruon.ai/contact-us) [How to Integrate AI](https://aruon.ai/how-to-integrate-ai) [Terms of Service](https://aruon.ai/terms-of-service) [(833) 545-7058](tel:+18335457058) [Start Free Trial](https://aruon.ai/start-free-trial) English - United States This is a search field with an auto-suggest feature attached. - There are no suggestions because the search field is empty. # The Wave Changed the Referees. Power Still Decides the Game. [Richard Bernard Jr](https://aruon.ai/blog/author/richard-bernard-jr) Nov 5, 2026, 2:46:35 PM ![](https://aruon.ai/hubfs/transmission-tower-data-center-golden-hour.png) ### Contents [Sep 12, 2026, 4:57:33 PM Power Is the New Real Estate - But Only If You Know Which Game You're Playing](https://aruon.ai/blog/power-is-the-new-real-estate-but-only-if-you-know-which-game-you-re-playing) [Sep 12, 2026, 4:57:26 PM The Map Moved. Most Developers Are Still Building on the Old One.](https://aruon.ai/blog/the-map-moved-most-developers-are-still-building-on-the-old-one) [Sep 12, 2026, 5:14:30 PM Four U.S. States Are Winning the Data Center Race - and Big Tech Now Outspends Most Nations' Militaries](https://aruon.ai/blog/four-u-s-states-are-winning-the-data-center-race-and-big-tech-now-outspends-most-nations-militaries) For two years, the AI conversation was about models, chips and capital. On Tuesday, voters made it about land, power lines and electric bills. Everyone is talking about who won. Fewer people are asking the question that matters to anyone who builds, finances, powers or sells into AI infrastructure: **where will AI be allowed to be built next?** I'm writing this from Texas, which just became the most important test case in the country. Here's what changed, what didn't, and what I'm telling the builders and operators I work with. ## What happened **The seats.** Democrats took control of both the Senate and the House. CBS News counted at least 54 Democratic Senate seats, with flips in Texas, Ohio, Iowa, Kansas, South Carolina and Maine, and Alaska and Mississippi still uncalled at last count. In the House, CBS projects a Democratic majority of 251 to 268 seats. President Trump keeps the veto, so this is divided government, not a one-party rewrite of energy or AI policy. **The governors.** This is where data centers actually get decided. Democrats won governor's races in Texas (Gina Hinojosa over Greg Abbott), Georgia (Keisha Lance Bottoms), Ohio (Amy Acton) and Iowa (Rob Sand). Several of those winners campaigned on pausing or conditioning new data centers. **The ballot measures.** Nearly 40 local data center measures appeared on ballots across 10 states. All but one went against data center development. The lone exception was Harwood, North Dakota. **The part most people missed: this wasn't a one-party issue.** Campaigns and outside groups spent more than $45 million on ads mentioning data centers this year, according to AdImpact data reported by NPR. Spending was almost evenly split: over $22 million supporting Republicans and over $21 million supporting Democrats. In Florida, a PAC backing Republican Byron Donalds ran ads pledging to protect families from data centers that "jack up utility rates." A June Reuters/Ipsos poll found 77% of Americans are concerned about data centers raising their electricity costs. Voters didn't reject AI. They rejected a buildout model where communities pay the costs and see few of the benefits. ## Where the buildout goes from here Cleanview, which tracks data center projects nationwide, ran the numbers the morning after. In nine states, the governor or governor-elect has promised or already imposed a pause on new data centers. Together those states hold **158.6 GW, about 41% of America's planned data center pipeline.** Another 18% sits in states where the winner wants to change tax breaks or rules but hasn't backed a pause. Here's how I read the map. ### Texas: the highest-stakes state in the country Texas has 88.4 GW of planned data center capacity, more than the ten closest-contested states combined, by Cleanview's count. And here's what most national coverage misses: **the pause started before the election.** In August, Governor Abbott froze data center approvals at the state grid level and then at the environmental permitting agency, pending an audit expected to run through December. He also called for data centers to pay for their own grid infrastructure and for ending their tax breaks. Governor-elect Hinojosa takes office January 19 and has promised a moratorium on new approvals until the Legislature passes protections. Her platform includes ending data center tax subsidies, banning nondisclosure agreements, protecting water and requiring union labor. Republicans still hold the Texas Senate, so permanent rules need a deal in the next session. Texas's buildout isn't over. But permission, not power or land, is now the binding constraint in the fastest-growing market in America. ### Georgia and Ohio: pause promises meet poured concrete Georgia holds 20.2 GW of planned capacity. Governor-elect Bottoms wants a pause on new construction, and Democrats also won a majority on the state's Public Service Commission. In Ohio, Governor-elect Acton backs a "conditional moratorium": projects proceed if they pay their full utility costs, bring their own energy and use union labor. Ohio has 21.9 GW announced but not yet under construction. ### Virginia: the regulatory template Virginia, the world's largest data center market, didn't wait for the midterms. In September, Governor Spanberger signed Executive Order 22. It's not a moratorium. Instead, it: - bans state agencies from signing nondisclosure agreements with data center developers; - ends expedited permitting and site-readiness help for new projects of 25 MW or more; - directs the state to make large data center loads pay their share of grid costs; - fast-tracks rules on water use, noise and backup diesel generators. Expect other states to copy it. ### What's protected Not everything is at risk. Cleanview counts 56.7 GW already under construction nationwide that is far less exposed to new pauses. That capacity will come online. The fight is over what comes next. ## The buildout doesn't stop. It reroutes. AI demand didn't change on Tuesday. The rules for meeting it did. Here's what I expect over the next 24 months: 1. **Short-term supply gets tighter.** If even part of that 41% slips, compute stays scarce through 2027 and 2028. Small businesses and local institutions feel higher AI prices first. 2. **"Tenant pays" becomes the price of admission.** Projects that cover their own grid upgrades, bring their own power and skip the NDAs will get approved. The rest will wait. 3. **Smaller and closer wins.** Virginia stopped fast-tracking anything 25 MW and up. That pushes builders toward smaller, distributed sites near the people they serve, the proximity compute model I've been writing about. Running AI efficiently on less power becomes a competitive advantage, not a nice-to-have. 4. **Site selection gets a new variable.** It used to be power, fiber and land. Now it's power, fiber, land and permission. That's exactly why we built the [Proximity Compute Scout](https://reir.aruon.ai/pcs) at ARUON: to find where compute can actually get built and switched on, before anyone commits capital. ### What I'm telling builders, owners and estimators to watch - **Public utility commission dockets:** large-load tariffs, exit fees and who pays for upgrades. - **Your interconnection position,** and whether you can supply your own power. - **Local ordinances and ballot risk.** One county can stop a project every statewide official supports. - **Whether campaign moratorium promises become 2027 laws.** Texas's split legislature is the test case. The election changed who sits across the table. It didn't change the checklist. **If your project's grid connection slips 18 months, what's the real cause: a transformer, a county board, or a law that hasn't been written yet?** --- *Sources: [CBS News](https://www.cbsnews.com/live-updates/election-day-2026-midterms/), [AP via PBS NewsHour](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/democrat-gina-hinojosa-wins-election-for-governor-in-texas), [KWTX](https://www.kwtx.com/2026/11/04/gina-hinojosa-won-governors-race-what-happens-texas-data-centers-now/), [Cleanview](https://newsletter.cleanview.co/p/newly-elected-governors-could-pause), [Capital B News](https://capitalbnews.org/data-center-ballot-measures-2026-midterms/), [NPR via OPB](https://www.opb.org/article/2026/09/05/data-centers-have-republicans-and-democrats-on-the-same-page/), [Beveridge & Diamond](https://www.bdlaw.com/publications/virginia-launches-data-center-accountability-framework/). Election figures are unofficial until certified.* *Originally published on [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/wave-changed-referees-power-still-decides-game-richard-bernard-jr-efgjc).* *Screening a site for proximity compute? [Check our coverage map](https://reiresearch.aruon.ai/#coverage), see the [Proximity Compute Scout](https://reir.aruon.ai/pcs), or call the research desk at [(833) 545-7058](tel:+18335457058).* [Sep 12, 2026, 4:57:33 PM Power Is the New Real Estate - But Only If You Know Which Game You're Playing](https://aruon.ai/blog/power-is-the-new-real-estate-but-only-if-you-know-which-game-you-re-playing) [Sep 12, 2026, 4:57:26 PM The Map Moved. Most Developers Are Still Building on the Old One.](https://aruon.ai/blog/the-map-moved-most-developers-are-still-building-on-the-old-one) [Sep 12, 2026, 5:14:30 PM Four U.S. States Are Winning the Data Center Race - and Big Tech Now Outspends Most Nations' Militaries](https://aruon.ai/blog/four-u-s-states-are-winning-the-data-center-race-and-big-tech-now-outspends-most-nations-militaries) [Previous Four U.S. States Are Winning the Data Center Race - and Big Tech Now Outspends Most Nations' Militaries](https://aruon.ai/blog/four-u-s-states-are-winning-the-data-center-race-and-big-tech-now-outspends-most-nations-militaries) ## Leave a Comment [![02\_logo\_primary\_light](https://aruon.ai/hubfs/02_logo_primary_light.png)](https://aruon.ai/) [mailto:team@aruon.ai](mailto:team@aruon.ai) © 2026 ARUON-AI LLC. All rights reserved. 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