Michigan‘s Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers backed the prospect of a data center moratorium in the Wolverine State, becoming the latest GOP politician to criticize the rapid spread of AI infrastructure ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.
“I think we need to take a pause, probably, and make sure that we’re answering all the questions that people have,” Rogers said on Thursday in response to a question about his thoughts on data centers.
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The former congressman then told the Detroit News that he supports a full, one-year moratorium on new data center expansion in Michigan, throwing his support behind a policy that has been backed by several politicians on both sides of the aisle, but also lamented by many officials in favor of AI development. Gov. Kathy Hochul (D-NY) made New York the first state to implement a yearlong moratorium, aiming to curb the rapid expansion of data centers.
Data centers have become a focal point of the 2026 election cycle, as voters voice concerns about the impacts the structures may have on their power grids and local water supply. At the same time, the domestic AI industry has emphasized the importance of data center expansion as the United States competes with China in the global AI race.
The push-and-pull over data centers has made it one of the most divisive issues of the midterm elections, especially in Midwestern states that have seen multiple industries dramatically change the region and its local workforce.
In Michigan, Democratic Senate candidate Abdul el Sayed has called for a halt on data center development until the federal government adopts new regulations on the matter. He has outlined his own “terms of engagement” for data centers to follow and said in late July, “Until we have those terms of engagement at the federal level, I stand with local and state elected officials saying that we cannot approve any more of these until we have federal-level guardrails.”
Rogers and el Sayed are locked in for what is expected to be a neck and neck race to fill retiring Sen. Gary Peters‘s (D-MI) seat. Election forecasters have labeled the seat a toss-up.
REPUBLICANS START TO TURN ON DATA CENTERS AS MIDTERM ELECTIONS APPROACH
A Politico/Public First poll from July told a grim story for data centers’ public perception, with support for the AI hubs dropping across the board, particularly among Democrats. According to a memo obtained by Axios, the National Republican Senatorial Committee has caught wind of these trends, warning AI companies that data centers have been dropping in popularity and Democrats have been campaigning on this.
Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), Wisconsin’s Republican nominee for governor, has also delved into anti-data center rhetoric spreading among Midwestern Republicans, centering his first general election campaign ad on the topic. In the video, he calls his Democratic opponent David Crowley “Data Center David Crowley.”
