Michigan’s Senate Democratic primary next week will be a crucial test of whether making a crackdown on data centers a central campaign issue can boost a candidate in a close statewide race.
Michigan has become a national hot spot for the data center build-out, as well as public backlash to projects such as a high-profile one in Saline Township. And some progressives in the state are hoping to ride anti-data center sentiment to victory over better-funded, more-centrist Democrats.
Abdul El-Sayed, a former public health official, has been outspoken ensuring the facilities cannot harm the electric grid or environment, while bringing benefits to the community. He’s proposed a set of “Terms of Engagement” that he wants to make law.
“We want to make sure that if you want to put a data center anywhere that it’s going to meet the following terms: all union labor, no raising our utility rates, increasing our utility reliability, not touching our water,” El-Sayed said in a debate this month hosted by WOOD-TV, an NBC News affiliate.
“And there’s got to be a community benefits agreement that’s negotiated in good faith with all the money put up in escrow,” El-Sayed continued, saying officials should be able to shut down data centers if they do not comply.
El-Sayed — who has support from progressive figures like Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York — has opened up a lead ahead of Rep. Haley Stevens in recent polling, with an Emerson College survey released this week showing him with 57 percent to Stevens’s 41 percent.
Stevens, who has support in the primary from major Democrats like Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer of New York and incumbent Michigan Sen. Gary Peters, is focused more narrowly on electric grid, environmental and tax concerns.
“It is up to federal lawmakers to secure the tax code so that these kajillionaire enterprises are paying their fair share. It is unacceptable that rates would go up as a result,” she said at the debate. “I want to force these data centers to pay their utility bills and to pay water bills for folks.”
Stevens made it clear that she wants data centers to be in Michigan. “I also want to secure Michigan being on the forefront of innovation and manufacturing,” she said.
The election comes shortly after Michigan Democratic Gov. Gretchen Whitmer responded to calls to crack down on data centers by pushing a voluntary pledge for developers and operators. The commitments include promises to pay for electricity system upgrades and not harm water supplies.
‘People really effing hate data centers’
Notably, El-Sayed has stopped short of endorsing a nationwide data center moratorium, as supported by Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez and many progressives. But he’s made clear he thinks voters want candidates who don’t embrace them openly.
El-Sayed is betting that affiliating his opponents with Big Tech will raise his profile and help him win the nomination to take on former Rep. Mike Rogers, the likely Republican nominee for the Senate contest.
At a recent campaign event, El-Sayed said “people really effing hate data centers,” and joked that data centers are being built “so that Mike Rogers can make AI videos of himself looking swole.”
It was a reference to an edited photo of Rogers the Republicans’ campaign promoted showing him with comically large muscles.
El-Sayed also claimed super political action committees backed by “big AI” are helping to fund Stevens.
“The question for us is, are we willing to actually do what it takes to protect people from these risks, or are we going to let them roll us, just like corporations continue to roll our politicians over and over again,” he said.
In response, Stevens argued Republicans are supporting El-Sayed’s campaign because they think he would be easier to beat. The National Republican Senatorial Committee has run at least one advertising campaign promoting El-Sayed.
It’s not the only Michigan race that could hinge on data center politics. William Lawrence, a co-founder of the Sunrise Movement, is making data center opposition a central piece of his Democratic primary campaign in the 7th House District. Lawrence wants a nationwide moratorium on data centers.
Early adopter
El-Sayed was one of the earliest candidates in this year’s midterms to make data centers a major part of his campaign.
“Running away from these issues is, frankly, bad politics. It’s cowardly politics,” he told POLITICO earlier this year. He said his platform “is about clarity, it’s about transparency, it’s about meeting commitments that are promised.”
Since then, the issue has spread to many other races across the country. Capitol Hill has taken notice, with numerous new bills meant to protect communities from data centers, while President Donald Trump has sought to ensure projects do not increase electricity rates.
Michigan voters, especially Democrats, “are increasingly becoming skeptical of building data centers in their communities,” said Tyler Simko, a University of Michigan professor who researches technology policy politics.
But the effects are uneven, and may be difficult to see amid all of the other issues at play in the race, like the war in Gaza, Medicare for All and the influence of corporate political spending.
“Data centers will matter to some voters much more than others. If you’re facing a data center proposal right in your neighborhood, it may be the single most important issue for you this cycle,” Simko said.
He predicted that the primary could be a national indicator of where voters are. “I think candidates across the country will be looking to the results of this Michigan primary to assess the viability of their own potential stance on data centers for the midterms. Our primary is one of the first high-profile races for which data centers have materialized as a major issue,” he said.
In a recent interview with ABC News affiliate WXYZ-TV, Rogers said communities should be able to decide if they want data centers, and they should be protected from increased electricity bills. He also said the tax revenue from data centers should go to reducing nearby property owners’ tax bills.
“If the people are willing to put up with one of these things in their community, they ought to have direct benefit,” he said. “I think that’s a better way to get the community involved in the decision,” Rogers continued, saying municipalities should not be allowed to use the revenue for new projects.
