3.Exclusive: GOP issues stark warning to AI companies

Exclusive: GOP problems stark warning to AI businesses. Add Axios as your preferred source to.

Key points

• There are now more than 4, 000 data centers online throughout the U.S., with another 3, 000-plus centers proposed or in progress.
• By the numbers: A Fox News poll last week indicated Brown leading Husted by 8 points.
• Sherrod Brown (D), has spent millions of dollars on a summer ad campaign calling Husted "the face of data centers in Ohio."
• Republicans say the matter is especially potent in heavily blue-collar Ohio as the state has a number of sizeable data center projects in the works.
• The NRSC memo notes Brown has produced data centers his "de facto opponent."

In practice, the major picture: AI CEOs and top Republicans share in the rising panic. They tell us internal polls show data centers are as popular as spent nuclear waste, and more broadly have become a proxy for feelings regarding AI.

Tech giants are scrambling to pull together media campaigns to try to shift opinion before it hardens locally and nationally.

But Democrats aren't dummies. They see the same polls and are moving fast.

Even politicians who previously embraced data centers, including Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), are racing to crack down on them this election year. On Tuesday, Shapiro, ahead of a feasible 2028 presidential run, signed an executive order imposing "strict guardrails" for data-center development.

They're designed to power the AI that's transforming the American economy, but have drawn protests from communities nationwide since they require massive amounts of electricity, can drive up utility bills, apply massive amounts of water, involve enormous warehouse-like structures and provide few jobs.

They additionally have become local targets for residents' anxiety concerning how AI is eliminating jobs.

Zoom in: Husted's opponent in Ohio, former Sen. Sherrod Brown (D), has spent millions of dollars on a summer ad campaign calling Husted "the face of data centers in Ohio."

Republicans say the matter is especially potent in heavily blue-collar Ohio as the state has a number of sizeable data center projects in the works. Nvidia and OpenAI have confirmed a project in the last few days. Meta, Vantage and QTS additionally have projects there.

For context, the NRSC memo notes Brown has produced data centers his "de facto opponent."

State of play: Republicans say in the memo, headlined "Ohio Data Center Risk, " that it's up to AI firms to improve perceptions of data centers by explaining "who benefits, who pays, and why a community should want one."

"Until that happens, the issue will continue to dominate this race, " the memo notes.

In practice, the bottom line: The memo argues that a Husted loss would cause long-lasting damage to AI firms in their push to build data centers nationwide to power future generations of AI.

"If voters' perceptions of data centers are not fixed quickly, the campaign against them will expand far beyond Ohio, " the party warns. Open embedded content from documentcloud.org.

In short, 3.Exclusive: GOP issues stark warning to AI companies is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.