The 404 Media article American voters overwhelmingly reject AI data centers carries the timestamp 2026-11-04T17:58:22.000Z, which is 01:58 in Beijing on Nov. 5. The byline is Matthew Gault. The article says proposals related to data centers were explicitly on the ballot in more than 40 races across 13 states. People voted against data centers in 38 of them, and the sentence includes the words and counting. Six cities voted to ban data centers outright, and 12 put limits on the megawatts such buildings could draw. The article also says candidates who supported data centers lost across the country. The figure 38 is qualified by an unfinished count. It is not a closed national total. The article does not attach a race-by-race list for the 13 states.
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The article treats Texas as the most striking case. Gregg Abbott lost a bid for a fourth term as governor, by more than 700,000 votes. The article says the state has more than 300 working data centers and that there are plans to double that number. At a 2025 press conference with Google chief executive Sundar Pichai, Abbott said Texas is the epicenter of AI development. The article then says he went on to accept more than $9 million from data center-related donors. After public sentiment turned, he issued what the article calls a pause on new projects. The article's judgment is that the pause was not real: after the announcement, regulators continued to approve data center projects, and the state's permitting site was shut only after 404 Media reported on it. Gina Hinojosa is described as the Democratic governor-elect, and the article says Abbott's stance on data centers was central to the campaign. That is the report's account. An official canvass is not part of this source.
[1]The article names several local races. In Burgin, Kentucky, mayoral candidate George Hensley lost after voting to approve a hyperscale project. The winner was a write-in, Joe MonroeTK, printed here as the article prints the name. Hensley was the only name on the ballot. Emporia, Kansas, passed a ban on high-impact data centers. The article says police there arrested a school teacher for clapping during a city meeting related to a data center. In Yukon, Oklahoma, the mayor lost a recall after supporting a hyperscale data center project. Michael Whitesides, deputy communications director for Local Progress, told 404 Media that the midterms sent a clear message: people do not want data centers in their backyards. He named Kim Rooney in Asheville, North Carolina, and Amanda Rodrigues in San Marcos, Texas, both elected mayor after campaigns against data centers. He also said large companies will keep trying to buy and pressure local officials, and that the group hopes last night's results show local leaders they can refuse. The hope is his. It is not a tally.
[1]The article counts Elon Musk among the night's losers. It says Musk spent half a billion dollars on the midterms, $224 of it in Texas. Both figures are in one sentence. The page does not say whether 224 means dollars, millions, or a figure that was cut off, and this column does not convert it into a rounder sum. The article says that a little after 1 a.m. he broke a posting silence on X with the sentence Data centers in space looking pretty appealing right now. That is a quoted post, not a plan for data centers in space, and the article does not add context beyond the line.
[1]The header image is an Unsplash aerial used by the article. It shows a warehouse and outdoor cooling equipment, not a count in progress, and the photograph cannot be read for 38 or for 700,000. The article does not say when counting ends, or how many more races the phrase and counting might add. The Texas figures of more than 300 working sites, a plan to double them, more than $9 million in donations, and continued approvals after the announced pause all stay inside this report and the accounts it links. Whitesides is speaking to 404 Media, not issuing a commission's summary.
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