Democrats, Republicans keep getting data centers wrong

U.S. Sen. Elissa Slotkin has been asking swing voters across the Midwest what they care about. In Speedway, they answered in a discussion among themselves before she even walked into the room: utility bills.

After Slotkin arrived to serve as a moderator of sorts over a buffet-style lunch at Big Woods, economic uncertainty continued to guide the focus group. One woman told the story of a friend’s daughter who was discouraged from becoming a paralegal because artificial intelligence might kill those jobs. A man told Slotkin about Shelbyville Mayor Scott Furgeson’s caught-on-video remarks that he’s only seen anti-data center signs in front of “shitty houses.”