--- title: "Tech Industry in Denial That the Midterms Show Everyone Hates Them" description: "Tech industry insiders are convinced that the midterm results aren't a repudiation against Big Tech and AI data centers." date: "2026-11-05" modified: "2026-11-05" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore.md" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/tech-industry-in-denial-midterms" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" --- # Tech Industry in Denial That the Midterms Show Everyone Hates Them ![A color-treated photo of Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei.]() *Getty Images / Futurism* Big Tech bet big on Trump ahead of the midterms, [and it backfired](). A blue tsunami overpowered largely pro-AI Republican candidates across the country — even, crucially, in Texas, where the election has now imperiled vast plans for data center construction. But industry insiders, it seems, are in denial that the midterms are actually a rebuke against tech, [*Ars Technica* noted](). Take Adam Kovacevich, a former Google exec and CEO of Chamber of Progress, a tech industry trade group and policy coalition that was formed with backing from heavyweights like Google, Amazon, Meta, and Apple. "The results offer little evidence of a voter mandate to crack down on AI or data centers," Kovacevich said, per *Ars*, noting that "Democratic gubernatorial candidates who opposed data center bans won at a higher rate than those who supported them." "Let's not confuse an anti-Trump wave with an anti-tech mandate," he added. Sure, you could gripe that AI's role in the election is being a overstated, given that Trump is so radioactive, and that other issues like cost of living were more in the front of voters' minds. But it was still a driving issue, and voters made themselves heard. Exit polls [showed that]() a broad majority of Americans considered opposition to data centers to be a driving issue. Across 10 states, there were 41 ballot measures on placing restrictions and even outright moratoriums on AI data centers, per Ballotpedia. And in all but one of those measures, voters sided against data centers, *CNBC* [found](). (The lone outlier was a measure proposed in Harwood, North Dakota.) That speaks enough on its own, but the biggest slap on the face to Big Tech and AI came in Texas, where a number of huge companies, many of them from California, [have relocated to because of its tech friendly regulations]() or lack thereof — chief among them [being Elon Musk's Tesla and SpaceX](). Roughly a quarter of the US's planned data center capacity is in the Lone Star state, and the likes of Musk poured hundreds of millions of dollars into the race to ensure that it would stay a Republican-led tech sanctuary. But Texas voters overwhelmingly rejected Big Tech's vision for their future. Gina Hinojosa beat Republican incumbent Greg Abott to be the state's next governor. A central part of her campaign was passing an "immediate moratorium on data centers" until the state passed stronger regulations, and it helped her become Texas's first Democratic governor in over three decades. James Talarico, similarly made history and flipped a senate seat while promising to "rein in" data centers. If that isn't a repudiation of Big Tech, we don't know what is. **More on AI:** [*Americans Just Resoundingly Rejected AI Data Centers*]() ## 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 - [The Tech Industry Went All in on Trump, and Now They’re in Serious Danger Now That Americans Have Turned on Him]() - [Americans Just Resoundingly Rejected AI Data Centers]() - [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]() - [AI Companies Are Trying to Seize Control of Elections]() - [Data Centers Are Driving Conservative Rural Voters to The Democratic Party En Masse]() - [New York Becomes First State to Ban AI Data Centers]() - [Trump Says You’re a Rube If You Don’t Want a Data Center in Your Backyard]() - [Democrat and Republican Voters United on Key Issue: Hatred of Data Centers]()