The Datacenter Backlash Brings Partisan Discord to a Standstill

The recent surge in local opposition to big tech’s datacenter buildout has been a striking development for those accustomed to the partisan gridlock that pervades American politics. Initially, elites on both coasts dismissed the resistance as mere nimbyism or a minor annoyance. However, the numbers tell a different story: three-quarters of Americans now oppose local datacenter development, a 30-point swing in just one year.

The backlash has been unfolding across the US, with over 500 counties and municipalities passing datacenter bans or moratoria, and dozens of proposed projects being killed outright. The issue has become a defining feature of several high-profile political races, including the battle for the US Senate in Ohio, where populist Democrat Sherrod Brown is making Republican senator Jon Husted’s support of datacenters a central campaign plank.

The perceived threat to local communities and the environment posed by these massive infrastructure projects is driving resistance. Datacenters are notorious water-guzzlers and air-polluters, and their construction often involves the displacement of residents and small businesses. Beyond practical concerns lies a deeper issue: the concentration of power and wealth in the hands of tech oligarchs.

The datacenter backlash represents an unusual convergence of interests across the political spectrum. Long-standing partisan divisions seem to be melting away as ordinary Americans come together to challenge the billionaire class driving this infrastructure buildout. This phenomenon is being driven, at least in part, by a growing recognition among community leaders and organizers that the traditional left-right axis no longer serves their interests.

Transformative Repolarization

The concept of “transformative repolarization” offers a useful framework for understanding this shift. According to Jennifer McCoy and Murat Somer, authoritarians and oligarchs often stoke polarization by dividing the public along social and cultural war lines. However, in the face of intense suspicion and distrust, depolarizing a society may not be enough; instead, opponents of authoritarianism need to redraw the lines of contestation that define their politics.

In the case of datacenters, repolarization is happening organically as people from different backgrounds and ideologies come together to challenge the billionaire class. “On many issues, people bring a partisan lens,” notes Ben Inskeep, program director at Citizens Action Coalition. “But on datacenters, we don’t have those firm camps formed. And so we’re seeing broad concern from Republicans, Democrats, and everyone else on the political spectrum.”

The Implications for American Politics

The datacenter backlash has the potential to redirect partisan anger away from social and cultural war issues and towards a fundamental challenge: the concentration of power and wealth in tech oligarchs’ hands. If this trend continues, it could represent one of the most significant shifts in American politics in generations – an attempt to shake up the status quo and address underlying grievances driving polarization.

However, for now, this is still a nascent movement with its own challenges and contradictions. Will it sustain itself or succumb to partisan divisions? Only time will tell. The datacenter backlash has given Americans a rare glimpse of unity – and it’s not pretty.

As William Lawrence, co-founder of the Sunrise Movement and congressional candidate from Michigan, said: “At a time when people are so polarized and isolated from each other, this movement against datacenters is showing us that we can come together on something bigger than ourselves.”