Former Democratic Senator Sherrod Brown once praised data center expansion, records show, even as he now runs on a platform opposing their development in a bid to return to the Senate.
In 2015, Brown put out a press release celebrating the construction of a third data center in Central Ohio.
“This new data center is great news for New Albany and central Ohio. Amazons growth in central Ohio signals that this region is not only a great place to do business, but a place where people want to live and raise a family,” Brown said.
Now, just over 10 years later, Brown is painting Ohios 226 data centers as a drain on the states resources â a reversal that demonstrates how many Democrats have aligned themselves on the issue to press the case for affordability.
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“Ohios electric grid â big corporations treat it like a game,” Brown said in a recent campaign video.
“[Theyre] gobbling up energy to feed their data centers no matter how much it raises our prices. Its the latest way theyve rigged the system.”
Brown, who was originally elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006, lost re-election in 2024 to Sen. Bernie Moreno, R-Ohio. Now he is waging a comeback bid for Ohios other Senate seat against incumbent Sen. Jon Husted.
Husted, who has not yet won a full term in the Senate, was appointed by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine to fill the seat of now-former Sen. J.D. Vance, R-Ohio, when Trump tapped him to become vice president.
In the 2026 midterms, Democrats have hammered President Donald Trump and what they see as unfulfilled promises to bring down the cost of everyday items like food, fuel and housing.
While slightly removed from those specific items, an increasing number of Democrats, like Brown, have tied data centers to the issue, arguing that they do little to pay for their own costs in terms of water and electrical use. In their view, data centers are being subsidized by the communities where theyre being built.
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Debates remain about whether their consumption has meaningfully changed utility rates in local communities and, if so, whether the companies should pay for the costs of their consumption.
Brown said he would support legislation along those lines.
“Ill require the data centers to pay the full cost of their own electricity â not you,” Brown said.
Ohio, in particular, has become an increasingly important state in the data center conversation as companies like
