{
  "id": 16873178,
  "title": "How data centers are inspiring bipartisanship",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/28/how-data-centers-are-inspiring-bipartisanship",
  "topic": "business",
  "section": "Business",
  "published": "2026-10-28T08:00:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Fast Company",
    "slug": "fast-company",
    "url": "https://www.fastcompany.com/91629987/data-centers-ai-inspiring-bipartisanship"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "Data centers, those massive facilities housing the computing resources needed for artificial intelligence, are sparking a surprising level of bipartisanship across the United States. While they fuel the nation's competitive edge against China and generate jobs and tax revenue, they also impose significant costs such as land use, higher household utility bills, and environmental degradation. This has led to a coalition of diverse interests opposing new data center projects, organizing protests, packed zoning commission meetings, moratoriums, and other government actions.\n\nThe resistance against data centers is bringing together surprising allies, including Democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and right-wing strategist Steve Bannon. In summer 2026, a Pew Research Center survey found that while 63% of Democrats view climate change as a very big problem, only 14% of Republicans agree, a 49-point gap. However, when it comes to data centers, the partisan divide is much smaller, with opposition being stronger among Democrats (69%) than Republicans (54%). This gap has narrowed over the past four months, from 18 points to 15 points.\n\nRising fuel and energy prices, coupled with the rapid development of AI technology, has led to concerns about AI safety, with majorities of both parties expressing worry that AI is developing too quickly. Despite this, support for government regulation of AI and protection of U.S. workers is very high, hovering around 80% on each issue.\n\nThe opposition to data centers has also led to the formation of organizations like New York's No Data Center FLX, which has organized protests, sued the local zoning board of appeals, and collected nearly 23,000 petition signatures in opposition to a proposed data center. This coalition of diverse interests has brought together people who typically find themselves politically at odds, a phenomenon that may be reshaping U.S. political alignments, at least temporarily.",
  "summary": "It may not be as shocking as rogue AI agents hacking another system, but the current political resistance to data centers has taken a surprising turn: It’s bringing together strange bedfellows , from democratic socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders to right-wing strategist Steve Bannon . Organized opposition to new data centers , made up of a coalition of varied interests, has spread across the nation.…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}