# Voters crushed data centers 43-1 at the ballot — did activism cross a line?

- URL: https://twotakes.us/stories/voters-crushed-data-centers-43-1-at-the-ballot-did-activism-cross-a-line
- Published: 2026-11-11T08:10:35.459063+00:00
- Topics: data-centers, ai-industry, elections, local-politics, activism

## What the left says
- Communities facing water depletion, diesel generator pollution, and rising electricity bills have every right to organize and demand accountability from trillion-dollar tech companies.
- Grassroots organizers like Taylor Frazier McCollum, who have lived the consequences of housing instability and economic precarity, bring authentic, lived urgency to these fights regardless of their personal circumstances or who supports them.
- The lopsided 43-1 vote reflects genuine, widespread public anger rather than manipulation, and tech companies are only now offering concessions because voters forced their hand.
- Scrutinizing an activist's funding sources or political affiliations is a distraction tactic meant to discredit legitimate local organizing against powerful corporate interests.

## What the right says
- Blocking a $5 billion redevelopment of a long-abandoned mall site deprives struggling counties of badly needed jobs, tax revenue, and economic revitalization at a time of budget deficits.
- Ties between activist networks and figures like Neville Roy Singham, who has documented links to Chinese state-aligned messaging, raise legitimate questions about whether foreign interests are amplifying domestic opposition to American tech infrastructure.
- Media outlets like NPR present individual activists as grassroots heroes without adequately disclosing the organizational and ideological backing behind their campaigns.
- Overly restrictive bans risk ceding American leadership in the global AI race to competitors like China, undermining long-term national economic and strategic interests.

## Common ground
- Data centers consume significant water and electricity, and ratepayers should not bear infrastructure costs that companies can afford to cover themselves.
- Voters across the political spectrum turned out in large numbers to restrict or ban data center projects in the November elections.
- Local economic conditions, including budget deficits and job losses, are real concerns that factor into these debates regardless of which side of the data center fight a community lands on.
- Transparency around funding, deals, and nondisclosure agreements involving data center projects is broadly seen as reasonable to demand.

## Sources
- [AllSides](https://www.allsides.com/news/2026-11-10-0800/general-news-wall-street-regulator-poised-bring-charges-against-prediction-market-giant-kalshi) (Center)
- [Axios](https://www.axios.com/2026/11/05/ai-data-center-election-backlash-concessions) (Lean Left)
- [Daily Caller](https://dailycaller.com/2026/11/10/taylor-frazier-mccollum-landover-data-center) (Right)
- [Forbes](https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2026/11/04/heres-where-voters-are-rejecting-data-centers-at-the-ballot-full-list/) (Lean Right)
- [Le·gal In·sur·rec·tion](https://legalinsurrection.com/2026/11/npr-celebrates-activist-whose-data-center-campaign-had-ties-to-china-linked-socialist-group/?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=npr-celebrates-activist-whose-data-center-campaign-had-ties-to-china-linked-socialist-group) (Unknown)
- [The Economist](https://www.economist.com/united-states/2026/10/15/the-impact-of-data-centre-discontent) (Lean Right)
- [The Economist](https://www.economist.com/united-states/2026/09/02/how-data-centres-became-one-of-americas-hottest-political-issues) (Lean Right)
- [The Economist](https://www.economist.com/united-states/2026/08/06/americas-income-taxes-are-diverging) (Lean Right)
- [The Economist](https://www.economist.com/united-states/2026/08/05/americas-democratic-socialists-are-having-the-summer-of-their-lives) (Lean Right)

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