As voters head to the polls in this year's midterm elections, a new source of political money is drawing scrutiny—donations linked to the rapidly expanding artificial intelligence (AI) industry. Experts say the influx of AI-related cash could shape how some voters view candidates, though its impact at the ballot box remains uncertain. While corporate political donations have long been a feature of American elections, the rise of AI and the rapid construction of data centers across the U.S. have turned the industry's political spending into a new flashpoint.
Candidates in several key races are now facing questions about whether financial support from AI-linked interests could influence their positions on issues ranging from electricity costs and tax incentives to local approval of new data center projects. In an election where there is a tight race a handful of votes can be the difference between victory and defeat.” There are several races in which campaign donations from AI-affiliated organizations have made headlines in the run-up to Election Day on November 3. For example, in Texas, where Republican Governor Greg Abbott is running for re-election against Democratic state Representative Gina Hinojosa, Abbott has received millions in donations from data center-related donors and people with indirect ties to the data center industry, the Texas Tribune reported on Monday, even after he paused new data center approvals until state officials conducted and audit of projects seeking connection with the state’s electric grid.
In Ohio, Republican Senator Jon Husted and Democratic former Senator Sherrod Brown have exchanged verbal blows regarding AI-related campaign donations in their Senate race. In September, Fox News reported that Brown’s campaign finance records showed that he received $20,000 from a Google corporate political action committee across his political career, while American Journal News reported that Husted has received more than $630,000 from organizations affiliated with data centers over the past 20 years. However, the candidates' campaign donations are much lower for this election cycle.
So far this year, Husted's campaign has received $11,000 from companies affiliated with artificial intelligence, including from political action committees associated with Google, Amazon and Anthropic. Since May 2025, that number jumps to $22,000 and includes donations from companies like Microsoft and Oracle, according to Federal Election Commission records. The same PACs did not donate to Brown's campaign.
A spokesperson for Husted’s campaign told Newsweek that the senator believes data centers “should remain a local decision where communities support their own priorities” and that if a community opts to build a data center, the community should not pay the associated infrastructure costs. Husted introduced the Ratepayer Protection Act, his bipartisan legislation requiring these companies to pay for their own power infrastructure. While the bill passed the House with overwhelming support, Senate Democrats blocked it to play politics with Ohioans' electric bills,” the spokesperson said.
Meanwhile, Sherrod Brown's hypocrisy is glaring: he has taken thousands of dollars from data center company PACs and lobbyists. Brown supported data center development when he was in Washington, and secured $2.8 million in federal funding for a research center in Dayton that was working on data center cooling infrastructure." A spokesperson for Brown’s campaign told Newsweek that Husted had greatly influenced the presence of data centers in Ohio. Ohioans should get to decide if data centers are built in their communities and should never be forced to subsidize the electricity costs of big corporations.” Neither campaign answered when directly asked by Newsweek for any assurances they could give voters that contributions from data center interests would not influence the candidates’ decisions if elected.
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