Ohio voters ban data centers in at least 14 towns as Democrats win Texas and Georgia governorships

Local data center bans were on the ballot in Ohio on Tuesday, and voters mostly said no. Ohioans in 18 municipalities decided 21 data center measures, more than half of the 41 such measures on ballots nationwide, and at least 14 municipalities passed bans or other restrictions, Fortune reported on Wednesday morning.

The same night, Democrats won the governor's offices in Texas and Georgia after campaigning on pausing or restricting new data centers. Investors noticed: CNBC reported that AI data center stocks fell on the Texas result.

What Ohio voters decided

According to Fortune, the bulk of the measures asked voters in 13 municipalities to ban or heavily restrict "high impact" campuses using more than 25 megawatts of power. Examples it cited:

• Trenton: a ban passed 80% to 20%. Organizers hope it blocks an 18-building Amazon Web Services project, though a four-building AWS campus already under construction nearby is likely unaffected.
• Sunbury and Pataskala: charter bans on large data centers appear to have passed. The Sunbury measure was aimed at a possible hyperscale Amazon project, whose fate Fortune says remains unclear.
• Perry: more than 87% backed a rule requiring developers who want tax breaks to give the village financial guarantees.
• Wilmington: about 80% rejected rezoning in four separate referendums meant to make room for a data center project.
• Ashville: voters backed entirely blocking a campus that is already under construction.

Ohio has more than 200 operational data centers, ranks fifth among states by number of projects, and, per state data cited by Fortune, companies plan to invest up to $40 billion there by 2030. Fortune also says Ohio already had 125 local data center moratoriums before Tuesday. Results in Oregon, Ohio, were not yet available when Fortune published.

Texas and Georgia

In Texas, Democrat Gina Hinojosa defeated Republican Gov. Greg Abbott. Bisnow reported she had about 53% of the vote with 80% of counties reporting late Tuesday, and that Abbott conceded. Her plan includes a data center development moratorium, stricter rules on water and power use, and an end to tax breaks for the industry. Bisnow notes the Republican candidates had also called for ending tax breaks and tighter regulation, though their plans differed in detail.

In Georgia, Democrat Keisha Lance Bottoms won the governor's race. Bisnow reported she has called for a statewide data center moratorium while the state writes a comprehensive policy, and for eliminating state tax incentives for digital infrastructure. She won 55.3% with 75% of precincts reporting, per the Associated Press figures Bisnow cited.

CNBC, citing Wells Fargo estimates, says Texas holds 27% of planned U.S. data center gigawatts, Georgia 7%, and Ohio and Pennsylvania 5% each. CNBC says Democrats won or kept the governorships in all four.

What the market did

CNBC reported SpaceX shares down 7%, CoreWeave down 7%, Iren down 6%, Nebius down 3% and Oracle down 4.3%, with Nvidia slightly lower and Alphabet, Meta and Microsoft mostly higher. It also noted the Nasdaq-100 had already fallen into correction territory at the end of October on worries about the pace of AI spending. Those percentages are CNBC's, taken from its Wednesday report.

Who this actually touches

A pause on paper is not a pause in practice. What Tuesday changed is the political cost of approving one.

• Local officials and landowners in towns courted by developers: Ohio's results show voters can override a council by referendum, and a ban can reach projects not yet built. Fortune notes Ashville's vote targets a campus already under construction, which will likely mean legal fights.
• Electricians, concrete and steel suppliers and other trades in markets where a campus was the biggest job in the pipeline: a delayed permit moves their backlog. We have no count of how many such jobs are at risk, and we are not estimating one.
• Ratepayers are the reason this is on ballots at all. Fortune's source, an Ohio Northern University political scientist, argued that ratepayer protections, transparency and grid safeguards "should dominate policy agendas" after these votes. Any specific effect on electric bills depends on rules not yet written.

What to watch

Hinojosa and Bottoms have not taken office, and a governor's moratorium plan still has to survive legislatures, courts and utility regulators. Texas and Georgia sit at the center of the planned buildout, so the first executive orders, state utility commission filings and any changes to tax-break programs are the next hard facts. Our election results coverage and the markets page track the wider fallout.

Sources: Fortune, CNBC, Bisnow (Texas), Bisnow (Georgia). Election figures are projections or partial counts as reported at publication. This is market information, not investment advice.