# Data centers as midterm issue

News · Heat 1.2 / 10 · 2 shows · 13m airtime

The Journal launched a series on October 7 on data centers as a midterm issue, centered on Ohio's Senate race. Reporting has established that Ohio gave data centers $2.5 billion in tax subsidies and that Republican John Husted recruited them as lieutenant governor; his Ratepayer Protection Act passed the House 417-3 and is stalled in the Senate, where Democrats call it unenforceable. A Wall Street Journal poll found 62 percent of Americans support pausing construction, and longtime Republican voters like Brandon Bernard are volunteering with Conserve Ohio to gather signatures for a moratorium. Husted was later caught on tape calling data centers an anchor around his neck. What remains open is whether that anger moves votes.

Page: https://boilpoints.com/point/data_centers_as_midterm_issue_4283388154

## Segments

- [The Journal.](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejournal), 2026-10-07, 0:22 to 3:07: **Profiles a three-time Trump voter turned volunteer**. Profiles Brandon Bernard, a lifelong Republican in Pataskala, Ohio, who is voting for the Democrat in the Senate race because of data centers and volunteering with Conserve Ohio to gather signatures for a moratorium. New angle: Brandon Bernard, a three-time Trump voter, is volunteering with Conserve Ohio to gather signatures for a data center moratorium.
- [The Journal.](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejournal), 2026-10-07, 2:58 to 4:01: **Adds a poll showing 62 percent back a pause**. Adds the campaign mechanics to the Ohio data center story: Brown is attacking Husted's record, Republican strategists are worried about losing longtime Republican voters, and a Journal poll puts pause support at 62 percent. New angle: A Wall Street Journal poll found 62 percent of Americans support pausing data center construction.
- [The Journal.](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejournal), 2026-10-07, 5:55 to 7:57: **Adds the stalled Ratepayer Protection Act vote**. Ohio reporting on the midterm fight: more than 200 data centers in the state, Husted's Ratepayer Protection Act stalled in the Senate after passing the House 417-3, and Democrats calling it unenforceable. Adds the legislative record to the voter-anger thread.
- [The Journal.](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejournal), 2026-10-07, 7:57 to 10:36: **Traces Husted's tech record and the incentives**. McWhirter walks through Husted's record promoting tech investment as lieutenant governor and the state tax incentives that drew Amazon, Google and Meta, then follows Brown at a UAW hall in Warren where data centers now dominate his pitch. Adds the origin story behind the blame fight.
- [The Journal.](https://boilpoints.com/u/thejournal), 2026-10-07, 10:36 to 12:56: **Recaps the glow and hum near a data center**. Bernard describes the glow, hum and property-value worry from a data center a mile or two away, and Husted answers with the Ratepayer Protection Act. It stays inside the ground the series already covered, adding only the candidates' closing pitches.
- [The Rest Is Politics: US](https://boilpoints.com/u/therestispoliticsus), 2026-10-22, 30:29 to 33:07: **Adds the tape of Husted on data centers**. Runs through Husted's liabilities on the data center fight: his dismissive comments about poor Ohioans, his Iran War votes, and the roughly $2.5 billion in tax breaks he backed. Adds a tape of Husted calling data centers an anchor around his neck and a strategist's claim that he never wanted the Senate race. New angle: Husted was caught on tape calling data centers an anchor around his neck.