data center rush, announcing the following year that it would transform the demolished mall into an artificial intelligence “tech park.” AdvertisementAdvertisementAt first, this motley crew of activists took care to insist they were not against data centers writ large. After McCollum’s video gained widespread attention, Braveboy issued a six-month pause on data center permits by executive order, calling the government’s 2021 decision to fast-track data center approval “a huge mistake,” because “residents have a stake in where these data centers are located.” Gretchen Whitmer controversially appeared for a data center groundbreaking alongside OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, outright data center opponents have won Democratic primaries; for her part, Whitmer has come to demand concessions from data center builders, including commitments to covering energy costs and employing people within the Mitten. For now, politicians of all ideological stripes in just about every state—Wisconsin, Oregon, Florida—are seeing favorability boosts from rhetorical data center opposition.