# Ohio Senate Race Divided by Data Center Debate

> Ohio's Senate race heats up as data centers become a key issue for voters and candidates.
- Title: Ohio Senate Race Divided by Data Center Debate · Newsweek
- Summary: Ohio's Senate race heats up as data centers become a key issue for voters and candidates. Ohio voters oppose data centers, with 75% wanting them banned in…
- Keywords: ohio, senate, data centers, ai infrastructure, sherrod brown, jon husted, midterm election, 2027 congress, voter concerns, tax breaks, utility bills, community opposition
- Source: Newsweek — https://newsweek.com/map-shows-where-data-centers-are-being-built-in-ohio-amid-midterm-debate-12612161
- Published: 2026-10-24T09:00:00+00:00
- Read time: 2 min
- Topics: ohio, senate, data centers, ai infrastructure, sherrod brown, jon husted, midterm election, 2027 congress, voter concerns, tax breaks, utility bills, community opposition
## Data Centers as Election Divide
Data centers have emerged as a central dividing line in the Ohio Senate race between Republican Senator Jon Husted and Democratic former Senator Sherrod Brown.
## Voter Opposition to Data Centers
Seventy-five percent of ohioans would oppose a data center being built in their community, while 63 percent would oppose data centers anywhere in ohio.
## Polling Shows Strong Opposition
A bgsu poll found seventy-eight percent of ohio voters support a temporary ban on data center construction until more information can be gathered.
## Data Center Development in Ohio
Most ai data centers are being developed around cleveland, with several in licking and union counties, which are more suburban and conservative.
## Economic Factors for Data Centers
Central ohio offers cheap land, attractive water rates, access to electric transmission lines, and proximity to population centers for data centers.
## Ohio's Tax Breaks for Data Centers
Ohio has given at least two point three billion in sales tax breaks for data centers, according to signal ohio.
## Husted's Ratepayer Protection Act
Husted introduced the ratepayer protection act, which would require states to establish standards for when data centers connect to the grid, but it failed in the senate.
## Husted's Data Center Stance
Husted believes data centers should be a local decision, and that every community has different priorities requiring local leaders to decide.
## Brown's Data Center Stance
Brown believes data centers should pay full utility costs and that ohioans shouldn't be forced to subsidize these costs.
## Labor Unions Support Data Centers
Labor unions see data centers as opportunities to create union jobs in a state with disruptive economic shifts.
## Polling Shows Close Race
Brown leads husted by 2.1 points in realclearpolling, 3 points in insideradvantage, and 5 points in fox news polls.
## Ohio Senate Race Context
Ohio was a key swing state for much of the 2000s, voting for barack obama in 2008 and 2012 before supporting trump in all three presidential runs.
## What Happens Next
The ohio us senate race will continue as one of the most competitive 2026 midterm elections with early voting underway.
## Key takeaway

Ohio voters oppose data centers, with 75% wanting them banned in their communities, as candidates push for regulations before 2027 Congress.