Donald Trump’s big, rapid American AI buildout now faces a major slowdown as voters in yesterday’s elections overwhelmingly supported candidates and measures that favored increasing restrictions on AI and data centers nationwide.
One resource from a polling firm, called Redbud Consulting, tracked data center initiatives on the ballot and reported that out of 44 measures across 10 states seeking to restrict data centers, 38 passed so far. Those measures included dozens of moratoriums and bans. Analysts suggested those won’t impact data centers already under construction or approved through 2027, instead largely impacting future projects planned for 2028. Only one measure passed allowing a data center to proceed. But even that small win represented pushback on the AI industry—requiring data center developers in a North Dakota city to pay for independent reviews and hold public hearings when expanding or proposing projects.
In addition to increasing regulations on data centers, voters also backed anti-AI candidates, electing officials vowing crackdowns in key states building out the most data center capacity in the US.
Most notably, Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa won the Texas governor race that Axios reported would fundamentally scramble the math on Trump’s AI buildout. According to Bloomberg , Hinojosa’s election has developers facing down the “worst-case scenario.” Texas is the epicenter of the AI boom, Axios noted, and was expected to account for more than 41 percent of added data center capacity in 2028.
Now, Hinojosa plans to delay projects as long as it takes to pass laws “tackling impacts on water, electricity, air, and property rights.” Approximately “13 gigawatts of data center capacity” is now exposed, Bloomberg reported. Gordon Johnson of GLJ Research warned in a note that Texas projects with “power, permits and steel keep going,” but “those with power but no state environmental permits slip 12 to 18 months,” Bloomberg reported. Some projects may leave the state entirely, perhaps moving to Louisiana or Georgia—or perhaps going nowhere.
“She would impose a moratorium until legislation is passed that gives communities a voice, protects household utility bills, and ends the tax incentives for data centers,” Johnson’s note said. “The question now is how long the pause lasts.” As PIMCO head of public policy Libby Cantrill similarly warned, “even if statewide moratoria do not result, we expect to see a lot more sand in the gears of the AI buildout regardless—with more time required to secure permits and other approvals, as well as more concessions that data center developers will have to make.”
