President Donald Trump spent part of his Saturday rally in Vandalia, Ohio, doing something politicians rarely do: defending data centers. The massive computing campuses that power artificial intelligence have become a punching bag in races across the country, but Trump framed them as a national security imperative, according to the Associated Press and a rally transcript.
“There’s so much money to be made for Ohio. You can’t just turn them off. They’ll go to China,” Trump said. He added that his administration is taking action to ensure data centers “benefit local communities.” The crowd, enthusiastic on other topics, was noticeably far more muted during those remarks.
Data Centers Draw Bipartisan Backlash
Data center campuses have become a toxic political issue, drawing bipartisan opposition in races across the country. Voters cite concerns about electricity prices, farmland and water supplies.
During his rally speech, Trump said Republican Sen. Jon Husted introduced the Ratepayer Protection Act to stop data centers from raising electricity costs and make them pay their own way. The bill would require states to consider standards ensuring that large electricity users, including data centers, pay for the power generation, transmission and other infrastructure needed to serve them.
Senate Republicans tried to advance the bill this past week, but it was blocked by nearly all Democrats, the AP reported. Trump said he would sign it “within 24 hours” if Republicans win.
Ohio Is Ground Zero for AI Buildout
The issue is especially sensitive in Ohio, where Husted helped attract data centers as lieutenant governor. Democratic challenger Sherrod Brown has seized on that record, accusing Husted of giving “billions in tax breaks to Big Tech” to bring data centers to the state. “Now, he’s making Ohioans foot the bill,” Brown wrote Friday on X.
Trump, however, framed the issue as a race with China, arguing the U.S. cannot cede ground in AI.
The stakes are high. Democrats likely have no path to a Senate majority without flipping Ohio. In August, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) reportedly alerted top AI firms that if Husted loses as Democrats make data centers a central issue in their campaign to unseat him, politicians nationwide could shy away from backing future projects.
Ohio is already a major data center hub. Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ:AMZN) has said it plans to invest $10 billion in the state’s data centers by 2030. American Electric Power has projected regional power demand will be similar to all of Manhattan’s by then.
Meanwhile, Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ:NVDA) has committed $1.5 billion to SB Energy, a SoftBank subsidiary that is developing a massive Ohio data-center campus for OpenAI.
Data centers have become an important issue for Republicans because they can be a political liability and a source of friction as the party seeks to maintain its majorities in the November midterm elections.
