The Minnesota Star Tribune features an article from two reports in Duluth (In greater Minnesota, the data center boom is reshaping local politics)…

Across greater Minnesota, the debate over data centers has energized citizens on the left and right both, many with little to no political experience. The fight to stop these often massive digital warehouses companies want for booming cloud computing and artificial intelligence demand has begun to reshape local politics.

From their outsized use of resources like water and energy to concerns and distrust over the growing prevalence of Artificial Intelligence, data centers have been a flashpoint for opposition and debate across Minnesota and the country. However, supporters say they could provide a potential economic boon to struggling communities.

In Pine Island, the mayor recently resigned in the middle of a local controversy over a data center proposal, and the city council adopted new public comment rules for its meetings after police were called during one raucous debate and the mayor resigned. At the State Capitol, grassroots groups from different corners of the state have banded together, and opponents have overflowed typically low-attendance city council meetings to push back against new centers. Political newcomers activated by the issue have also filed for office.

Nearly a dozen city councils and county boards in greater Minnesota have voted on data center moratoriums.

They spend much of the article explaining how and why data centers will be a hot topic at the polls this year…

It may surprise some how much the political energy generated by data centers will sway elections this fall, said Sarah Mooradian, government relations and policy director at Cure, a rural environmental nonprofit.

“It’ll be an election issue, it seems more obvious than ever to me,” she said. “People are … engaged in a way I have not seen before.”