AI-backed group spends millions on ads to defend data centers in battleground states

In brief

Build American AI said Monday it will spend millions on advertising in Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin defending data center construction.

The group is backed by Leading the Future, a super PAC whose funders include Marc Andreessen, Ben Horowitz and OpenAI President Greg Brockman.

Annenberg polling puts opposition to local data centers at 61%, up from 49% in the spring.

An advocacy group funded by artificial intelligence billionaires is spending millions on ads in three battleground states to defend data centers, Bloomberg reported Monday.

Build American AI, backed by the super PAC Leading the Future, starts in Kansas, Ohio and Wisconsin, where the issue has taken over statewide races. Its statement warned against letting "the loudest and most extreme voices" dictate the country's future. The advocacy group has not disclosed its budget, beyond noting that it is in the millions of dollars.

Annenberg Public Policy Center polling of 1,320 U.S. adults between June 16 and July 19 found that 61% opposed new data centers in their area, against 49% in a February and March survey. Majorities of Democrats (69%), Republicans (54%) and independents (53%) were opposed.

Views of AI overall barely shifted over the same months, and opposition ran at 60% among heavy AI users against 64% among people who never touch it. "Even heavy AI users seem to be concerned about these very concrete worries," said Matthew Levendusky of the policy center.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee warned AI companies the issue is turning toxic, pointing to Ohio, where Democratic Senate candidate Sherrod Brown has made it central to his campaign against Republican Senator Jon Husted. U.S. President Donald Trump posted Monday that communities resisting data centers want "to end up being backwards and poor," urged them to "let Data Reign," and said China was delighted by the backlash.

New York has a moratorium on hyperscale data centers, Texas has paused approvals, and cities from Austin to Jersey City have imposed bans. Data Center Watch counted 75 projects worth roughly $130 billion blocked or delayed in the first quarter of 2026, a pattern lenders have started pricing as credit risk.

Familiar battle lines

Analysts have warned the opposition could slow the buildout—and the scenario has played out before with Bitcoin miners. Nine residents of Granbury, Texas, sued MARA Holdings in May over noise from its mining site, alleging insomnia, headaches and tinnitus, the latest in a series of lawsuits directed against the industry.

Some of those Bitcoin miners risk treading familiar ground, as they pivot into AI infrastructure. Miners hold interconnection rights that take years to obtain, and are leasing them to AI labs instead of mining Bitcoin.