Monterey Park, located just to the east of Los Angeles, became the first US city to ban datacenter construction thanks to Steven Kung’s efforts. He is now running for city council against an incumbent who backed the massive facility. His campaign mailers show a red dragon ripping apart a datacenter using its tail.
Kung is part of a broader movement. Nationwide, organizers who opposed AI-powered developments are now seeking elected office. During an election year where first-time candidates have bested powerful moderate Democrats, dozens of datacenter activists are aiming at incumbents who neglected their worries about affordability, the environment and tech overreach.
The Dragon Against the Facility
The datacenter fight, according to Kung, was what disrupted his life entirely. He described it as a major event that changed everything for him. “The datacenter coming to my neighborhood turned my life upside down,” he said. “I saw that there’s a dismantling of democracy at a local level.”
He is running for city council in Monterey Park, and his campaign carries forward a movement of opposition. The datacenter revolt has brought together a wide coalition, including environmentalists and Nimbys, conservatives and democratic socialists.
San Gabriel Valley Progressive Action co-founder Amy Wong is also seeking office, with her sights set on a seat on the council in neighboring Alhambra.
The Numbers Behind the Fury
The anti-datacenter movement has grown fast. In the first three months of 2026 alone, residents delayed or cancelled $130bn worth of projects, according to research from Data Center Watch. Seven in 10 Americans oppose construction close to where they live, according to a Gallup poll from March.
Local datacenter activists have been recruited by the Working Families Party to run for office since December, when the organization started reaching out to them. The effort has already attracted more than 50 candidates, and Ravi Mangla, the national press secretary, says the count could double or triple for next year’s races.
Mangla said most of the people who signed up are first-time candidates who were inspired to run because of what is happening in their communities. The vast majority of them live in Michigan, Texas and Indiana, states with a high concentration of datacenters. A significant number also come from swing states that could determine who controls Congress.
From Marana to Oregon
Cybersecurity specialist Jackie McGuire had never thought of running for office in her hometown of Marana until late last year. Then she found out about plans to construct a building on 600 acres of farmland at a price tag that exceeds $120bn.
About 60,000 people live in Marana, a community on the outskirts of Tucson, where residents raised concerns over the project’s water consumption, noise pollution and possible effect on electricity bills. The local authorities provided little transparency in response.
A video of McGuire’s testimony against developer Beale Infrastructure at a public meeting spread widely on Instagram in December, and her following grew quickly. She had spent several months watching local officials repeatedly go against what residents wanted, including rejecting a datacenter referendum. That is what prompted her to run for office.
She ran for town council in July alongside a slate of anti-datacenter organizers, and because she already had some name recognition, she was the only candidate to win a seat.
“I got into the race pretty last minute because we needed a majority on the town council,” McGuire said. “Unfortunately, we were not able to secure that, but that doesn’t mean we’re dead in the water.”
McGuire has promised to keep pressing for a measure that would force voter approval on datacenter projects, she said, since she took office.
The Fight in Oregon
In July, a senate primary election in Oregon came down to datacenter backlash, with Myrna Muñoz, an educator, defeating incumbent Janeen Sollman. Sollman had supported a contentious bill that would have swapped more farmland for industrial development. Muñoz is now favored to win the general election in a district that reliably votes Democratic.
Before she ran for office, Muñoz was unaware of how many facilities were being developed in Hillsboro, which is seen as the starting point of Oregon’s tech industry. That changed when she began her campaign in March. The city had already approved 17 new projects, added to more than 30 existing locations, just before it put a stop to further approvals in late July.
“These 17 centers that got through have tax abatements until 2050,” Muñoz said. “They’re taking away money from my children and grandchildren.”
Four Oregon lawmakers, including Muñoz, are pushing for a three-year pause on new datacenter construction across the state, along with stricter controls on existing projects.
Why Datacenters Matter
Mangla explained that datacenters have turned into a galvanizing issue in the midterms, since they stand for the uncontrolled expansion of corporate greed at a time when the costs of groceries and everyday items have jumped.
“We’ve seen it as an issue of working people against powerful oligarchs who want to override local concerns and draw resources from communities,” he said. “It’s something we see mobilizing and animating people all around the country, especially in the midwest and south where the growth of datacenters is especially prevalent.”
Saul Levin, the program director for the Center for Nonviolent Conflict Research, said the anti-datacenter movement has brought together ordinary citizens from a wide range of walks of life. He described farmers, teachers, and beauty salon workers among those “irate about what’s going on” in their communities who have joined the effort.
The enthusiasm that has defined this campaign is now being counted on to get voters out to the polls.
“AI companies are spending the equivalent of the US military budget on software and datacenters,” Levin said.
Key Facts
- Monterey Park became the first US city to ban datacenter construction
- Residents delayed or cancelled $130bn worth of projects in Q1 2026
- Seven in 10 Americans oppose datacenter construction near where they live
- More than 50 candidates have signed up with the Working Families Party
- Muñoz is expected to win the Oregon general election in a solid Democratic district
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