The main topic: Can US AI Boom Outrun Backlash

Voter anger over power bills and water use is turning data centers into a midterm liability, even in strongholds like Virginia and Texas. Bloomberg Technology pressed Information Technology Industry Council CEO Jason Oxman on why the main topic now dominates races heading into the midterms.

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Oxman framed data centers as AI factories and said the buildout is creating tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of jobs across construction trades and scientific staff.

The full discussion can be found on Bloomberg Technology's YouTube channel.

He argued the power impact is overstated.

Why power bills are beating the job pitch

Oxman said data centers account for a low single-digit percentage of overall US power and that other factors drive higher rates. Voters are not buying it yet.

There are 5,000 data centers in the US today, many operating for decades in Northern Virginia. Oxman said they underpin everything from email to medical records, but the AI era has recast them as a proxy for broader anxiety about AI itself.

That proxy is now policy. Governors in red and blue states have imposed pauses or moratoria on new construction, a sign that local opposition can stall national infrastructure.

What the industry is pledging to calm the anger

The Trump administration has convened two ratepayer protection pledge events where tech firms and utilities promise not to pass costs to consumers. Oxman pointed to multibillion dollar investments in generation and grid modernization as the follow through.

Microsoft is backing a nuclear restart adjacent to a data center, and Meta is funding added generation in Louisiana. For private builders like CoreWeave and other StartupHub-tracked neoclouds, those utility partnerships decide whether projects clear local approval or get frozen by moratoria.

Oxman said the US is in a direct race with China for AI infrastructure and cited Brazil competing with Argentina and Chile for the same capital. The pledge helps, but it does not erase water or siting fights that will test the next wave of permits.