Sanders-backed progressives try to make AI the new AIPAC

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New York Gov. Kathy Hochul’s announcement on a data center moratorium on Tuesday signals that backlash against unchecked AI growth is moving closer to the Democratic mainstream after months of progressives taking advantage of it in the primaries.

In races across the country where left-leaning challengers are threatening the Democratic establishment’s elections, they are doing so by turning the AI ​​industry into a new bogeyman. As Graham Platner’s meltdown in Maine sparked an intraparty debate about progressives’ campaign acumen, the left sought to change the subject by mining data centers as energy-hungry giants that harm communities.

“Progressives have turned the influence of big money into a major divide in our politics this cycle,” Faiz Shakir, an adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., said in March. recommended as well as a nationwide data center moratorium from New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. “The centrists’ move is very clearly ‘public-private partnerships’, while we are ‘fighting the oligarchy’.”

Progressives’ efforts to push AI policies are most aggressive in Michigan, where Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed is home rolled In January, restrictive “participation requirements for data centers” and where El-Sayed-backed House candidate William Lawrence made his first campaign ad about shutting down data centers.

“Tech billionaires want to turn this entire space into a giant data center that will increase our energy bills and destroy our home values.” in question In the ad, Lawrence turned the green field into a sickly shade of brown as a special effect.

Before entering politics, Lawrence was a co-founder of the left-wing climate activism group Sunrise Movement. The group released a video On Monday, rival House candidate Bridget Brink, the former U.S. ambassador to Ukraine, refused to endorse a “pause” on all data center development when pressed by a Sunrise activist.

Another rival of Lawrence and Brink is experienced Matt Maasdam. approved data center regulation, but not a pause or moratorium, out of concern that “all these opportunities will go to other states.”

This position aligns Maasdam with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. approved He warned that “data center bans are eliminating good-paying union construction jobs.”

Across the country, Democratic Rep. Greg Stanton in Arizona supports Legislation that will force data center manufacturers to pay more for their energy use.

But in the 4th Congressional District, a collection of Democratic-leaning cities and suburbs near Phoenix, Ahwatukee residents protested construction of a 1 million square meter data center for the entire year.

Environmental activist Kai Newkirk, who is challenging Stanton in next week’s Democratic primary. -headed He went to the southwest corner of the county to protest with them.

“Citizens oppose this and I stand with them,” Newkirk said. in question on social media. “My opponent, Greg Stanton, has been silent. He’s taking tons of corporate PAC money from the same big tech companies that are fueling the AI ​​boom.”

In Wisconsin, socialist state Representative Francesca Hong left her opponents behind by taking a clear stance against new data center construction.

“I am the only person in this race who supports a one-year moratorium on the construction of new hyperscale AI data centers,” Hong said. he said. says In a short ad published on Meta platforms.

Their top-rated challenger was Lt. Gov. sarah rodriguez and former Lt. Gov. Mandela Barnesthey didn’t go that far, preferring to approve limitations on new data centers or studies on their impact.

In February, voting Marquette Law School found that 70% of Wisconsinites agree that “the costs of data centers outweigh the benefits.” Among Democrats, this rate was 85 percent

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Progressive and environmental activists first spotted the data center construction pushback building last year. In off-year elections, Virginia Republicans and Democrats are pushing new headquarters in D.C.’s suburbs while Georgia Democrats to win Two seats on the state’s utility commission, with campaigns framing AI facilities as energy-sucking eyesores.

“The issue we’re really seeing emerge this year is around data centers and AI spending,” Sunrise president Denae Ávila-Dickson told Semafor in March, citing strong progressive performances in some of the year’s first primaries. he said. “There is a very clear connection: People who want to build a data center in your community will give $2 million to a candidate who will let them do it.”

That month, Nida Allam, the Democratic challenger in the North Carolina House race who lost the 2022 campaign for the same district, nearly unseated Rep. Valerie Foushee. His race was seen as a mini-referendum in Gaza, as Allam campaigned against Foushee’s previous support from AIPAC.

But the opponent believed the AI ​​issue was coming to the fore as the AI ​​industry PAC stepped in to help the incumbent, reaching voters who were not focused on foreign policy.

“This is not just an economic problem,” Allam told Semafor. “This is an environmental issue. This is a social justice issue.”

David’s opinion

Centrist Democrats want to warn primary voters that left-wing candidates risk defeat for their party in the general election; Platner points to A. But the left has developed an effective strategy to mitigate centrist attacks and is using it in anti-data center campaigns.

First, progressives try to identify the groups they expect to attack them. Then, when the attack comes, they discredit it (or try to do so) by pointing to its source.

This is the story of AIPAC, now toxic in the Democratic primaries. Progressives in New York say their opponents helped By groups with links to the Israel lobby. Now progressives want AI industry PACs to face the same fate.

They know that Democratic voters are now deeply critical of Israel and deeply skeptical of the AI ​​industry. If the main opponents in the organization are supported by these interests, this can easily be turned into a liability.

What Hochul’s moratorium on Tuesday shows is that the rest of the party can’t afford to cede this district to progressives. (Another example: Mallory McMorrow released her own strict AI regulatory framework before abandoning her Senate campaign.)

What other Democrats have yet to do is develop an AI and data centers position that matches what the IBEW wants; It was a pro-construction position that was at odds with voters who didn’t want battleship-sized AI centers in their backyards.

There’s a lot of tension there from the Democrats I talked to compared to the tension of the Keystone XL pipeline protests. Workers wanted construction. Environmentalists wanted to leave carbon in the soil. Democrats who want to win primaries took an environmentally friendly stance.

Dispute Room

Before Hochul got there this week, an even more established figure in the party staked out a stronger niche in data centers.

Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., will become chairman of the influential Energy and Commerce Committee if Democrats last month win back the House in November. he suggested himself Nationwide moratorium on data centers.

Important

• One report Politico’s Riley Rogerson and Kelsey Brugger on concerns from Rep. Greg Casar, R-Texas Democratic colleagues are very nervous about spending by AI industry PACs.

• Andrew Tobias at Signal I looked How former Ohio Senator Sherrod Brown ran is campaigning against data centers for his state’s other Senate seat.

• Reid Wilson at Publius reveals voting Data centers in the states where they are built are facing a wave of public opinion against them.

• Caroline Haskins at Wired reported some electricians disagree About the importance of building data centers with IBEW.