Voters rejected data centers in numerous local elections

🗞️ Story file #1417

Voters rejected data centers in numerous local elections

Nov 4, 4 PM ET to Nov 5, 2 PM ET · 1 outlet not rated for lean

33outlets carried it
🫏13 · 10 · 9🐘left · center · right
22 hourson the front pages
30front pages at once, at its peak
16 minof TV captions
1radio newscast
6people retold it online

📰 read it at: Mother Jones Rolling Stone The Atlantic The Guardian The Intercept Axios Business Insider CNBC NBC News Semafor The Washington Post USA Today Yahoo News Bloomberg Forbes Fortune MarketWatch Newsweek Reason Reuters Scripps News CS Monitor The Hill Fox Business Just the News The Epoch Times Breitbart New York Post Newsmax The Daily Caller The Daily Signal The Post Millennial The Washington Sun

👣 How this story traveled: from the front pages that broke it, out through TV, radio and the shows, into what people retold and what fact-checkers examined, and on into the saga it is part of. Everything here is matched to the story by our tools, so a link can be wrong; the trackers' pages say how each is made.

Nov 4, 4 PM ETfirst on a front page: Rolling Stone
Nov 4, 6 PM ETfirst on TV: Fox News
Nov 5, 4 AM ETretold online by 6 people
Nov 5, 11 AM ETfirst on the radio: NPR News Now
Nov 5, 1 PM ETpeak: on 30 front pages

the front pages that ran it, hour by hour

Front pages carrying it at each hourly run, Nov 4, 4 PM to Nov 5, 2 PM ET (peak 29), by the outlets' lean: left · center · right · not rated

Who carried it and when: each outlet in the order it picked the story up, a bar for each headline from when we first saw it on the front page to when we last did, in the outlet's lean color (dashed: not rated); a dot marks a new headline, and a headline swapped for a new one between our hourly looks runs on to it. A gap means a look found the story gone from that front page. Beneath, its captions on TV, the radio newscasts that carried it (bigger: the lead) and when people were found retelling it. Hover for details.

💬 Quoted

“AI Quake”1
“AI earthquake,”1

phrases its headlines put in quotation marks; the bar is how many outlets did

📌 Linked by aggregators

2 Google News · Drudge Report

aggregators linking to it from their front page (they don't count as outlets covering it)

✏️ 8 outlets ran more than one headline on it (reworded, or a follow-up)

Bloomberg (2 wordings): “Only One Town Out of Dozens in US Voted in Favor of Data Centers” → “Only One US Town Out of Dozens Voted Yes to Data Centers”
Breitbart (2 wordings): “AI Election: Voters Back Data Center Restrictions in 40 of 41 Local Elections…” → “Voters Supported Data Center Restrictions in 40 of 41 Local Elections”
Business Insider (3 wordings): “Data centers got a slap in the face at the ballot box. These key votes show how.” → “Midterm AI data center backlash could help Amazon, Microsoft, Google”
CNBC (3 wordings): “Voters rebuffed data centers in every ballot measure except one” → “How the midterms could fuel the K-shaped AI trade”
Fox Business (2 wordings): “Data centers were on the midterms ballot, and voters sent unmistakable message” → “How Democrats’ midterm gains could reshape the political landscape for AI”
Semafor (3 wordings): “US voters roundly reject data centers in ballot measures” → “Democrats are fired up on AI. Consensus is harder.”
The Washington Post (2 wordings): “A nationwide backlash against data centers erupts at the polls” → “AI & Tech Brief: Midterms turn the AI tide”
USA Today (2 wordings): “Data centers got crushed in the midterms” → “Data centers were on the ballot in many US towns. They…”

📰 Every outlet's headline 33left to right by AllSides rating

Mother Jones🕒 Nov 5, 1 PM ET Midterm Rout for Data Centers: Voters in Nearly 40 Towns Rejected Projects
Rolling Stone🕒 Nov 4, 4 PM ET The Votes Are In: Americans Don’t Want Data Centers
The Atlantic🕒 Nov 4, 2 PM ET Americans Really Don’t Like Data Centers
The Guardian🕒 Nov 5, 1 AM ET Datacenters were on the ballot. US voters rejected them
The Intercept🕒 Nov 5, 12 PM ET Blue Tsunami’s Clearest Takeaway: People Hate Data Centers
Axios🕒 Nov 4, 6 AM ET Voters deliver "AI earthquake," rebuking tech and billionaires
Business Insider🕒 Nov 4, 10 AM ET Data centers got a slap in the face at the ballot box. These key votes show how.
CNBC🕒 Nov 4, 2 PM ET Voters rebuffed data centers in every ballot measure except one
NBC News🕒 Nov 4, 6 PM ET Data centers rejected by voters across the country — challenging the AI boom
Semafor🕒 Nov 4, 9 AM ET US voters roundly reject data centers in ballot measures
The Washington Post🕒 Nov 4, 3 PM ET A nationwide backlash against data centers erupts at the polls
USA Today🕒 Nov 4, 6 PM ET Data centers got crushed in the midterms
Yahoo News🕒 Nov 5, 1 AM ET AI data centers were on the ballot across the U.S. The results sent a clear message.
Bloomberg🕒 Nov 4, 7 PM ET Only One Town Out of Dozens in US Voted in Favor of Data Centers
Forbes🕒 Nov 4, 1 PM ET Here’s Where Voters Are Rejecting Data Centers At The Ballot (Full List)
Fortune🕒 Nov 5, 9 AM ET Americans hate data centers. Tech needs them
MarketWatch🕒 Nov 4, 4 PM ET The midterm election results are redrawing the map for AI data centers
Newsweek🕒 Nov 4, 12 PM ET Data Centers Were the Big Loser of the Midterms
Reason🕒 Nov 4, 4 PM ET It Was a Data Center Election After All
Reuters🕒 Nov 4, 1 PM ET Trump's midterm drubbing demonstrates the power of data center opponents
Scripps News🕒 Nov 4, 5 PM ET Voters made curbing data centers a core issue in Tuesday's elections
CS Monitor🕒 Nov 5, 1 PM ET Voters sent a resounding message against data centers By Story Hinckley / 4 min
The Hill🕒 Nov 5, 10 AM ET Voters fiercely reject data centers
Fox Business🕒 Nov 5, 9 AM ET Data centers were on the midterms ballot, and voters sent unmistakable message
Just the News🕒 Nov 4, 2 PM ET Voters in dozens of local jurisdictions back bans and restrictions on data centers
The Epoch Times🕒 Nov 2, 7 AM ET Voters Across America Are Wary of Data Centers
Breitbart🕒 Nov 5, 1 PM ET AI Election: Voters Back Data Center Restrictions in 40 of 41 Local Elections…
New York Post🕒 Nov 4, 4 PM ET Voters reject data centers in nearly 50 ballot initiatives during midterms in major setback to AI bigwigs
Newsmax🕒 Nov 4, 1 PM ET Voters Deliver 'AI Quake' With Data Center Curbs
The Daily Caller🕒 Nov 4, 2 PM ET Data Centers Have Brutal Election Night
The Daily Signal🕒 Nov 4, 10 AM ET AI Fears Emerge as Winning Issue for Democrats
The Post Millennial🕒 Nov 5, 10 AM ET Voters deliver backlash against data centers, AI
The Washington Sun🕒 Nov 4, 5 PM ET Midterm Voters Reject Data Centers

TV, radio, and the shows that talked about it

left
leans left
center
right

minutes its captions were on screen, by channel; the disc is the network's lean

hourly newscasts that carried it, by show; beside the count, how often it was the lead story, or the highest it came in the running order

🫏 NPR News Now 1× · best #2

podcasts, newsletters and streams that talked about it, by show; the bar is episodes; the disc is the show's lean by reputation

🕵️ investigative reporting on it and 🃏 satire joking about it (jokes, never counted as coverage); the bar is pieces

🃏 The Babylon Bee 1

what people online made of it

🧩 How it's being told

The stories under this news, from our motif index, and who told each: the shows we follow by their lean, people online, fact-checkers. A story people tell, not a claim that it's true; claims are matched to this story by our tools, so a link can be wrong.

🧩 Data center panic ⚖️ 1 center show 🐘 1 right show
“Voters oppose data centers because they fear impacts on the power grid, electricity costs, and water supply.”
🧩 Thirsty data centers ⚖️ 1 center show 🐘 1 right show
“Voters oppose data centers because they fear impacts on the power grid, electricity costs, and water supply.”

🧶 Retold online

Recent elections in Texas and other states have created political risks for the AI data center boom through new moratoriums and leadership changes. Nov 5: told by 6 people

On Folklore: the latest in full, with their motifs and who is telling them.

🗣️ Names in it

Data centersVotersAI bigwigs

what the fact-checkers looked into

🧐 No fact-checker has taken it on yet.

the running story it belongs to

🌱 A story of its own so far: no saga yet.