--- title: "The Tech Industry Went All in on Trump, and Now They’re in Serious Danger Now That Americans Have Turned on Him" description: "The AI and tech industry, which has constantly fawned over Trump, are in for a reckoning after a blue tsanmi midterm elections." date: "2026-11-04" modified: "2026-11-04" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/tech-companies-danger-trump" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" --- # The Tech Industry Went All in on Trump, and Now They’re in Serious Danger Now That Americans Have Turned on Him ![CEO of Anthropic Dario Amodei (R) speaks as U.S. President Donald Trump (L) holds a press briefing with AI executives.]() *Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images* Tech companies threw their lot in with Donald Trump, and now, following a blue tsunami, they're poised to pay the price. If it wasn't already clear before the first vote was cast, it's now undeniable that these midterm elections were in no small part a referendum on Big Tech. A preponderance of Democratic candidates for congress, the senate, and state governorship supported some form of data center moratorium. Across ten states, [Ballotpedia showed](), over 40 ballot measures were put forth related to regulating data centers. A full 56 percent of Americans considered AI and data centers a crucial or major factor in their votes, [according to *NBC News* exit polls](). Many of the Democratic challengers, including senator-elect Sherrod Brown in Ohio, flipped seats while raging against data center construction. "What we just witnessed was an AI earthquake," Brad Carson, co-founder of Americans for Responsible Innovation, [told *Axios*](). "Voters just sent a clear message that they want rules for AI and data centers." Greg Casar, a Texas Democratic congressman who just secured reelection, echoed this analogy, calling the election an "early tremor of a much bigger AI earthquake upending American politics." One of the biggest setbacks to the tech industry is Gina Hinojosa's victory in the Texas governor race, defeating Republican incumbent Greg Abott. Texas is where many AI companies are banking building their data center empires, holding an overwhelming 27 percent of the entire country's planned data center capacity, according to [widely-cited Wells Fargo data](). Many tech figures have spent the past few years relocating operations there, including former trillionaire Elon Musk. "The entire AI industry made this giant levered bet on the idea that they'd be able to build \[data centers\] in Texas," Sam Koppelman at Hunterbrook Media, an investigative journalism outlet, [told *Politico*](). "This election totally changed that." Analysts at SemiAnalysis ahead of the election feared the worst, believing Hinojosa would come down hard on the industry: "she would impose a moratorium until legislation is passed that gives communities a voice, protects household utility bills, and ends the tax incentives for data centers," the firm wrote, [per *Bloomberg* reporting](). Along with Texas, Democratic governor candidates prevailing in George and Michigan now means that the hammer could be brought down on 45 percent of planned US data center capacity. Musk encapsulated the palpable sense of dread over this new reality in a post-elections [tweet](): "Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now." Dan Ives, a partner at the bank Yorkville Ives & Co, was more direct. "There is no way to sugarcoat that Democrats taking control especially over the Senate will create some major hurdles for AI and tech legislation in the Beltway over the next 2 years," he said in a note, [quoted by *CNBC*](). Beyond the issue of data centers themselves, Republican candidates lost because they reeked of big tech money. Elon Musk poured $474 million into the midterms, including $224 million in Texas alone. OpenAI president Greg Brockman, and Silicon Valley VC heavyweights Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, splurged on a super PAC for pro-AI candidates, most of them Republicans. And yet, a [Guardrails Action survey before the election found]() that three quarters of likely voters in Iowa, Michigan, and Ohio — where blue candidates for the senate and governorship all prevailed — said that they would be less apt to vote for a candidate if they found out they had accepted a donation from an AI Super PAC. Also leaving a lasting impression on voters is how Big Tech has constantly appeased president Trump and complied with even his most arbitrary whims. Trump demanded that the term "artificial intelligence" be rebranded as "Super Intelligence," and AI companies, with a straight face, started using it in their communications. Google renamed the Gulf of Mexico and Lake Ontario after Trump said so. Let's not forget that Mark Zuckerberg was [caught on camera]() admitting to Trump that he made up an AI spending number just to please him. They fawned over him at his inauguration, and were all smiles when they joined him in the White House to sign a non-binding agreement to regulate themselves. Might have to rethink how that one looks after this midterm season. **More on:** [*Sam Altman Makes Weird Tweet After Bruising Midterm Results*]() ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]() ## More - [Americans Just Resoundingly Rejected AI Data Centers]() - [Elon Musk in Real Trouble After Humiliating Defeat]() - [Democrat and Republican Politicians Are Both Terrified to Go Against the AI Industry, Even Though a Huge Majority of Both Their Voting Blocs Want Them to Do Exactly That]() - [Political Candidates Spending An Obscene Amount of Money on AI-Generated Election Slop]() - [Data Centers Are Driving Conservative Rural Voters to The Democratic Party En Masse]() - [New York Becomes First State to Ban AI Data Centers]() - [Poll Finds Overwhelming Majority Disgusted by Trump’s Relationship With AI Industry, Saying He’s Using the Tech to Tear Down Democracy]() - [Trump Says You’re a Rube If You Don’t Want a Data Center in Your Backyard]()