Fervent opposition to large-scale data centers proved to be a motivating political factor in high-profile races from Ohio to Texas in this year’s election. The hot-button issue also played a major role in some local races across Minnesota.
In Pine Island, a town of 4,000 just north of Rochester, a political neophyte who opposed the planned Google data center there won two-thirds of the vote against the incumbent interim mayor who supports the project.
And in Hermantown, where a second Google data center generated a fierce backlash from local residents, two political newcomers won seats to the city council, outpolling an incumbent who voted to approve the massive project just last week.