The Nov. 3 midterm results gave Democrats full control of Congress, setting the stage for what could be one of the most divided U.S. governments this decade, with Republicans in the White House.

Tuesday’s results suggest that anger over data centers, the large facilities that house the computers powering AI, is becoming a political force. With Democrats now in control of Congress, that could lead to new limits on where data centers can be built and how much say local communities have.

Analysts at Morgan Stanley predict that Democratic Gov.-elect Amy Acton will also pose a major risk to Ohio’s data center buildout. Elsewhere, candidates in Texas, Maine, Michigan, Nevada, Georgia, and South Carolina all won seats after taking a stance against the rapid buildout of data centers. “It is clear that money does not buy outcomes,” said Aniketh Koneru, a tech and policy researcher, adding that in modern politics, creating a “local villain” is one way to build campaign momentum.

Likely next steps include more construction moratoriums or requiring data centers to pay for their own power grid upgrades instead of passing those costs on to nearby communities. Goldman Sachs, in fact, predicts data center construction delays in states like Georgia and Texas because of Democratic gains.

Democratic control of Congress could also improve the odds for bills like the one Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez introduced earlier this year, though any such bill would also face a possible veto. It proposes a nationwide moratorium on new data centers until Congress adds new guardrails and ensures that the buildout does not raise electricity costs, harm the environment, or proceed without community approval.

There are also bills like the GRID Savings Act, proposed by New Mexico Sen. Martin Heinrich, which would prevent grid infrastructure costs from being passed on to communities during large AI data center buildouts. The environment is also a major concern, especially at xAI’s data center in Memphis and at the data centers throughout Virginia, known as the world capital of data centers, where gas turbines are used for power.

Maia Woluchem, program director at Data & Society, a nonprofit research group, believes that changes to energy regulations, land rights, and other environmental policies could affect the data center buildout, especially as congressional Democrats look further into the Trump administration’s rollback of certain energy protections, as the New York Times reported they might.

“Regardless of federal action, I could imagine that we will see additional movement at the state and local level, given the momentum that’s been building from the ground up,” Woluchem continued, citing Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, who supports a statewide moratorium on data centers, as an example. Both Hinojosa and Gov. Greg Abbott called for some limits, but Hinojosa centered much of her campaign on opposing data centers, a notable choice in Texas, whose electrical grid has proved vulnerable over the past decade.

But the hard part is still to come. Smith, for example, is now expecting a fight, or even more executive orders, to bypass what Congress is now likely to block. “Even among Democrats, a blanket freeze is contested,” she said, referring to some Democrats’ worry that a moratorium could slow AI progress and hurt national security.

She also expects AI lobbyists to start calling lawmakers. “Democrats ran on making Big Tech pay,” Smith said. “Our job is to make sure they remember it once the cameras leave.”The backlash runs deeper than the buildings themselves, which aren’t new. One private equity executive told me recently that people don’t necessarily hate data centers, but rather AI, and that data centers have become a stand-in for people’s fears and anxieties about the technology. “It does look like the results are pointing to a real frustration with tech power at minimum,” Woluchem said, noting that this is also a bipartisan issue.

For the past month, people have told me they are worried about data centers’ effect on the environment and about their lack of say in whether they’re built.

Amazon, for example, built a data center in Gilroy, California, without many residents knowing, by satisfying a 45-year-old zoning law. Vague or outdated zoning laws, along with requirements that local officials sign nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) barring them from discussing data center projects, have only fueled people’s outrage about the buildout. Data centers have also received billions in tax breaks, and although many tech companies have touted the benefits, such as jobs and community programs, for many people, that simply wasn’t enough.

People want to know they still have a say in what happens in their communities. Many also fear that AI buildouts will mainly enrich a few wealthy people while their communities suffer and living costs rise.

“If AI infrastructure is truly a national priority, then the companies building it can afford to pay for their own power, meet clean air standards, disclose what they use, and build with the consent of the people who live next door,” Smith said. “Families should never be subsidizing the richest corporations in history through their utility bills.”