AI data center fight blurs political lines
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Illustration: Annelise Capossela/Axios
AI's energy demands are creating strange bedfellows as Democrats and Republicans sound increasingly alike ahead of the midterms and 2028.
Why it matters: Political fault lines around AI are still fluid, and candidates from both parties are scrambling to tap into a winning position centered on affordability.
Driving the news: New York Gov. Kathy Hochul this week outlined a plan to make sure that tech companies that want to build data centers "pay their fair share" of the energy demand.
- Hours later, President Trump in a Truth Social post said that tech companies, starting with Microsoft, would "pick up the tab" for their power demands.
- "We're glad to see Donald Trump taking a page from Governor Hochul's playbook on lowering costs for hardworking families, but he shouldn't stop there," said Hochul spokesperson Jen Goodman. "The President should also follow her lead on common-sense AI regulations that will make Americans safer."
Behind the scenes: Trump's post caught the industry off-guard, three sources familiar told Axios.
- Microsoft had planned to announce commitments around data centers the following day.
Between the lines: Both parties are betting that affordability is king — and data center–driven electricity costs fit squarely into that concern.
- Trump and Hochul, along with others in their respective parties, are framing tech power demands as a cost burden that voters shouldn't need to absorb.
- The president even called Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) on Monday to talk about high prices after she gave a speech on Democrats' 2028 economic agenda.
- In that speech, Warren blasted Reid Hoffman's push to back "pro-abundance" candidates who wouldn't impose regulations that slow data center construction.
Follow the money: Expect super PAC money to go to the candidates who can create a friendly environment for industry while appealing to voters' concerns.
- "If you have blue state governors and the president of the United States on the other side giving the boundaries on each side of where to be, that means there's gonna be a lot of people in there that we can come in and support and be helpful to," one political operative who works with industry told Axios.
The other side: Some advocacy groups believe Democrats should have a clearer message when it comes to data centers if they want to win and distinguish themselves from the policies of Trump and Republicans.
- Jeff Hauser with the Revolving Door Project — a government watchdog group that tracks officials' corporate and personal ties — said Sen. Bernie Sanders' (I-Vt.) approach backing a moratorium on data centers is "optimal."
- New York state Sen. Kristen Gonzalez, who has introduced bills to ensure large data centers pay for their demand and use renewables, said Democrats are missing the mark on affordability and there's "a lot of merit" to Sanders' proposal.
- "The tension is that we are in this [climate and affordability] crisis and we have a governor and a private sector that is so bullish on AI, they are willing to push forward and potentially worsen this crisis," said Gonzalez.
The bottom line: As candidates across the political spectrum talk up affordability, voters will have to parse out the policies that actually lower their bills.
