President Donald Trump’s derision of communities that oppose the construction of data centers as wanting to be “backwards and poor” has put some Minnesota Republicans in a tough spot.
Data centers have rapidly become one of the defining issues in this year’s midterm elections, with polls showing both Republican and Democratic voters rejecting these facilities that Trump maintains are job-producing boons.
A recent Economist/YouGov Poll found that more than half of those polled said data centers are “bad” while only 20% said they are a good thing. Democrats were particularly likely to view data center construction negatively with 61% saying it is bad for the country. Meanwhile, 39% of GOP respondents saw new data center construction as bad while 31% viewed it as good.
The backlash can be easily understood. Data centers consume enormous amounts of electricity and water and economists have determined that their job creation is largely limited to short-term construction jobs, which has won the support of trade unions.
Still, Trump touted them as the “Golden Goose” in a post on Truth Social this week, seemingly because he said they are the cornerstone of the strategic AI arms race the United States has with China.
From Minnesota (quoted but abridged – check out MinnPost for complete quotes)…
- Rep. Tom Emmer, R-6th District, immediately embraced the president’s message of support for the construction of data centers.
- Rep. Brad Finstad, R-1st District, said “the discussion around AI technology is one our country needs to have.”
“Data centers, like those proposed in southern Minnesota, can play an important role in our economic future and national security, but the decision about whether a data center is right for a particular community should be made by the people and local leaders who know their communities best, not handed down by Washington through a blanket, one-size-fits-all approach that treats every community the same,” he said in an emailed statement. - State Sen. Eric Pratt, a Republican who is running for retiring Rep. Angie Craig’s seat, also pushed back against Trump’s remarks about communities that don’t want to host data centers.
He called for a “a balanced approach to data center development that puts local communities at the center of the conversation while recognizing the growing importance of domestic technology infrastructure.” - Pratt’s Democratic rival, former Lakeville Mayor Matt Little, has pledged to fight for moratoriums and bans on nondisclosure agreements. Some local officials in Minnesota have signed NDAs at the behest of developers, shielding details about data centers from public scrutiny.
- And Finstad’s Democratic challenger, Jake Johnson, joined a protest against a Pine Island data center in August. …
Johnson also released a plan for stopping data center exploitation in Minnesota. - Meanwhile, Trina Swanson, a Democrat running against Stauber on the Iron Range, lives close to a proposed data center in Hermantown. She condemned the NDAs signed by Hermantown officials, lack of regulations on data center developments and heavy water use and increased energy costs.
- Stauber’s office did not respond to a request for comment. Neither did the office of Rep. Michele Fischbach, R-7th District.
- The subject of the first televised campaign ad run by Grant Hauschild, a DFL state senator representing Hermantown, focused on data centers and touted the regulations on the facilities considered by the state Legislature.
