A farm family's stand

Patty Spillman, a sixty-three-year-old retired bus driver and Trump voter, and Jen Belt, a fifty-one-year-old Democrat artist, co-lead Protect Grove City against a proposed three hundred ten-acre data-center campus near Columbus.

“This is our community. What if we don't want you here?”

The project and the secrecy

Headwaters Site Development, a Texas-based company founded by former Google data-center infrastructure leader Michael Lebow, proposed Project Maple without naming the tech company that would ultimately buy the facility.

“They just skirted around giving us straight answers about anything.”

Grove City pushes back

The Grove City council passed a yearlong moratorium on data-center construction in June. In November, residents will vote on a charter amendment requiring voter approval for large developments.

A statewide revolt

Ohio has some two hundred data centers, making it one of the biggest hubs in the country. More than one hundred local governments have reportedly enacted data-center moratoriums.

Voters overwhelmingly oppose

A national Gallup poll published in May found that more than seventy percent of voters oppose building an AI data center in their area.

Electricity bills spike

In Ohio, the average household's electric bill climbed some fifteen percent in the past year and more than sixty six percent over the past decade, fueling opposition to data centers.

Republicans unite against

Nick Owens, a former county GOP chair and Trump delegate at the two thousand twenty four Republican National Convention, now works with anti-data-center group Conserve Ohio, saying the issue unites people across political lines.

“I can get on my phone right now and text or call ten or twelve people from ten different corners of the state, from all different political backgrounds, from all different socio-economic backgrounds, because we're all united about this.”

Democrats see an opening

Democrats have spent one hundred thirty seven point six million dollars on broadcast ads about data centers, making up seventy seven percent of estimated spending. They connect the issue to affordability, democracy, and AI concerns.

Trump backs the industry

President Donald Trump has positioned himself as one of the industry's biggest champions, deriding opponents of data centers as backwards and poor.

Meta's secret deal

Meta made plans to erect a one billion dollar data-center campus in Piqua, hashing out the deal in secret last year using a private LLC and nondisclosure agreements with local officials.

Bonuses and backlash

Several Piqua city officials were awarded three thousand dollar bonuses after winning Meta's business. Outraged residents successfully petitioned to add a measure to the November ballot designed to recall the mayor and other elected officials.

Leonard's unlikely challenge

Don Leonard, a forty-eight-year-old former Ohio State planning professor and Democratic candidate in Ohio's fifteenth Congressional District, found that more than seventy percent of likely voters in the district want greater say over data centers.

“Data centers are one of the most bipartisan issues in Central Ohio right now.”

Leonard's fundraising gap

Leonard's opponent, incumbent Mike Carey, a former coal-industry lobbyist, has raked in four million dollars to Leonard's one point two million dollars, though recent Republican spending against Leonard suggests nervousness.

Brown's comeback bid

Sherrod Brown, defeated in two thousand twenty four after three terms in the Senate, has made data centers the cornerstone of his comeback bid, blaming Republican opponent Jon Husted for fostering data-center growth.

“These data centers are in Ohio now thanks to Jon Husted. They come into communities. They gulp up the land. They swallow the water. Then they get these huge tax breaks.”

Incentives and revenue

Data centers received an estimated two point five billion dollars in incentives, including breaks on sales and property taxes, from two thousand seventeen to two thousand twenty four, according to the Ohio Chamber of Commerce…

Husted plays defense

Husted sponsored a Senate bill to require data centers to pay for electrical-system upgrades, ultimately blocked by Democrats.

Governor's race positions

Democratic candidate Dr.Amy Acton called for a conditional moratorium on data centers until they meet requirements like covering electricity costs.Republican nominee Vivek Ramaswamy wants hyperscale data centers to cover electricity costs and meet environmental standards.

A national pattern

Similar data-center battles are playing out in Texas, Iowa, and other states. In Texas, Republican governor Greg Abbott imposed a temporary moratorium on new data centers pending an audit.

Stage's uncertain future

Grove City mayor Richard Ike Stage, who became mayor in nineteen eighty-eight and has won most elections handily through eleven of them, faces re-election next year amid the data-center backlash.

“You never, never make that assumption.”