Data centres divide Ohio voters

Rural communities across central Ohio are seeing farmland replaced by industrial complexes, a shift that has united unlikely political allies. Sherri Fahringer, a public health worker and liberal Democrat, lives in the village of Commercial Point. Across the street, plans call for 15 buildings with diesel generators and constant industrial lighting. She purchased her two-storey home about a year ago without knowledge of the project.

Fahringer says she is scared of the physical, emotional, and financial impacts. "I’m not wealthy. I can’t afford to abandon my house or take a loss on it," she told CBC News. Her ally in the fight is Amanda Wasmus, a conservative Republican. They met over shared frustration with the development pace. "We all moved thinking this was rural America … and that is slowly slipping away," Wasmus said.

The opposition is not isolated. An Ohio Northern University poll released this month found a clear majority of residents oppose data centre growth. State lawmakers estimate more than 200 such facilities are active or under construction. The Ohio Chamber of Commerce cites $40 billion in private investment and 95,000 jobs, though a Brookings Institution study found job creation is lower than industry claims.

The issue has become a central theme in the Senate race between incumbent Republican Jon Husted and Democrat Sherrod Brown. Husted recently backed a Ratepayer Protection Act to force tech companies to cover energy costs. Although the House passed the bill, it failed in the Senate. Husted argues Democrats blocked the measure. "I’ve been a leader on this and this issue has really flipped for us well in the last couple of weeks," he said at a campaign event.

A leaked Republican memo described data centres as a "sleeper issue" and an "anchor hanging around Husted’s neck." Democrats have run attack ads positioning Republicans as pro-development. Wasmus, a Trump voter, says she may not support the incumbent Republican senator in the November midterms. "It is what it is. I voted for him, but I could care less at this point," she said.

Supporters of Husted, such as surgeon Neal Nesbitt, dismiss the backlash as anti-Trump sentiment. "I think if data centres are our biggest problem in this country, we’re in pretty good shape," said retiree Lynne Genter. Meanwhile, Democratic strategist Jim McGreevy notes that Trump’s popularity has dropped in rural areas where data centres are being built. Both parties expect the data centre debate to influence voting behavior in this toss-up race.