Among the issues drawing attention from Ohio residents ahead of next month's midterm vote, data centers have entered the conversation in a way that has drawn sustained public scrutiny. Ohio already counts at least 200 such installations within its borders, with another dozen or more in various stages of proposal, and residents ranging from rural agricultural towns to suburban Columbus neighbourhoods have raised objections to the arrival of large-scale data centers operated by major technology firms.
Spencer Dirrig, who oversees government affairs at the Ohio Environmental Council, outlined a set of geographic and workforce factors drawing tech companies to the state — among them Ohio's flat terrain, its relatively low exposure to severe weather, access to fresh water along Lake Erie, and a pool of experienced electrical and construction workers concentrated in the Central Ohio region.
Kasey Hall, whose family has farmed Scioto Township land across three generations in Jackson County, told a broadcast outlet that the state government's full sales-tax exemption drew those companies to the area — and that trust in government at every level, from local bodies up through federal institutions, has reached a low point, a decline she attributed in large part to how AI infrastructure expansion has been handled in the communities it touches.
A Pew Research survey found that a majority of Americans view data centers as harmful to the environment and to household energy costs, while roughly half expressed concern about the effect on quality of life in surrounding communities. Discomfort with a data center opening nearby was voiced by six in ten Americans surveyed — a figure that climbed to 68% among Democratic respondents and held at 54% among Republicans.
In Ohio, community groups have been mobilising to push back against the projects, reflecting a broader unease with the developments taking shape there. A petition drive in Ohio has gathered upward of 130,000 signatures behind a proposed constitutional amendment that would bar data centers exceeding 25 megawatts of capacity from operating in the state, according to Conserve Ohio, the citizen-led organisation behind the effort. An initiative to place the measure before voters on the November 2027 ballot is now under way.
Of the at least 38 ballot measures tied to data center development that appeared across the country during this year's midterm elections, 20 were concentrated in Ohio. Among the municipalities aligned with Conserve Ohio's push to restrict large-scale data center power consumption above 25 megawatts, Pataskala stands as one of nine cities that have adopted comparable measures at the local level.
When a real estate agent began contacting Hall's family and nearby landowners about purchase offers running into the millions — tied to plans for a data center on the surrounding farmland — she turned to zoning advocacy as a way to influence what gets built in her township. The initiative has been paused, she noted, after AEP chose not to issue the necessary permit.
According to Hall, her father — a Republican throughout his life — intends to cast his ballot for the Democratic side in the upcoming midterm election. Acknowledging that AI tools are promoted as conveniences, she told reporters that no aspect of her daily routine troubles her enough to hand it over to automated technology, and she voiced reservations about how such changes were taking shape in her neighbourhood. She told reporters that residents in her region had yet to see any tangible benefit from the arrangement, adding that those in her community felt they were absorbing the costs while wealthy interests extracted the gains.
Ohio voted for Trump in the 2024 presidential race, yet a segment of that same electorate now stands in opposition to his stance on the issue. Trump's remarks framed communities opposing data centers as choosing poverty and backwardness, a position one local resident pushed back on directly, stating that proximity to such a facility would be unwelcome regardless of any economic argument attached to it. The placement of such a facility — whether near the White House, at Mar-a-Lago, or at any other location of his choosing — would rest entirely with him.
Brandyn Bernard, a Pataskala resident who has cast Republican ballots in each of the past three presidential elections, told reporters he would choose financial hardship and limited development over having one present in his neighbourhood. Bernard indicated that his vote in the upcoming midterm election would go to Democratic candidates, citing the party's stated position on limiting new data center construction.
The gubernatorial contest has drawn itself into that wider discussion. On November 3rd, voters will choose between Vivek Ramaswamy — a businessman who carries Donald Trump's backing and runs under the Republican banner — and Amy Acton, a physician who previously led the state health department and is seeking the governorship as a Democrat.
A pause on new data center approvals — contingent on whether proposed facilities satisfy thresholds covering cost structures, union labour practices, disclosure obligations, and environmental compliance — is a position Acton has put forward. In a public statement, Ramaswamy put forward the view that data centres ought to bear the cost of their own utility expenses. When he entered the race in 2025, his remarks about data centers carried a notably warmer tone than the positions he has taken more recently.
A Columbus woman identified only as Andy voiced apprehension about the upcoming midterm contests, saying she believed a Vivek victory would lead to Ohio's public assets and land being handed over to corporate interests, undoing what the state had built over time, while noting that everyone in her circle was anxious yet hopeful about an Amy Acton win. Separately, Megan Newton and her husband, residents of the Waverly area in Pike County, were approached by a land acquisition company working on behalf of Ohio Power in connection with a high-voltage transmission line tied to the substation intended to supply electricity to the PORTS data center and the 10-gigawatt data centers slated for a former uranium enrichment facility.
Questions about what large-scale development might bring to a town such as Johnstown have entered the broader community discussion there. Johnstown, a Licking County community where Newton grew up, sits directly alongside the Ohio One semiconductor campus that Intel is developing at a cost of $28 billion. Newton described how her household had absorbed the tangible effects of roads, utilities, and services that were never designed to handle expansion on that scale — drawing a parallel to Intel's chip manufacturing plant as an example of what large-scale development can place on local infrastructure.
Newton noted that the two-lane road near 62 Beech Road sees persistent congestion, and that the volume of construction activity tied to the Intel facility being built there has contributed to both heavier vehicle traffic and wear on the road surface. She added that residents in the area have raised questions about how data centers might affect their communities, describing artificial intelligence infrastructure as unfamiliar territory where outcomes remain uncertain.
Nathan Nethers, a Newark resident, told reporters that construction on multiple data centers in the area was already underway before he became aware of any plans for them, with several facilities appearing to go up at roughly the same time, and that road closures tied to the building work had made getting around town harder — prompting him to raise questions about how much water and electricity the projects would draw, what they would mean for land use and utility bills, how traffic patterns might shift, and whether any jobs created would be permanent.
Samantha Hairston, a Johnstown resident her whole life, voiced a concern that has surfaced in communities across the state — that people living near data center construction sites were given no prior notice before the facilities went up, with Hairston noting that agricultural land in the area had been absorbed into those projects. Hairston noted that numerous farming families and other residents had lost their properties, and questioned what purpose such losses ultimately served.
On January 5, 2027, a special ballot question will put Johnstown residents in a position to decide whether the city's charter should be amended to prohibit hyperscale data centers from setting up operations anywhere within municipal boundaries.
