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The Ezra Klein Show · 3 min · Nov 5, 2026
Data centers became a local electoral flashpoint
Ezra Klein
They connect backlash against Elon Musk's political spending to opposition to AI data centers.
The episode’s best minutes
Full analysis- 32:34AI investment could make the economy more fragile3 min
- 41:58Data centers became a local electoral flashpointPro pick 3 min
“The AI centers are a huge electoral issue, right, that elites are maybe not focused on as much as they should be.”
Ezra Kleinat 43:28 · The Ezra Klein Show
Takeaways Pro pick
- Musk's political spending may have hurt rather than helped.
- Democrats campaigned against data centers in several states.
- Most data center moratoriums on the ballot passed.
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One of Pro's picks. The rest of the summary and the 3 takeaways are in Real Alpha Pro; the video, the quote and the transcript stay free.
Read it with Pro, 7 days freeAbout this segment
They connect backlash against Elon Musk's political spending to opposition to AI data centers. Candidates campaigned on the issue, and most data center moratoriums on the ballot passed.
Ezra Klein, Host
Host, The Ezra Klein Show
From “Blue Wave, Big Tent | The Ezra Klein Show”, Nov 5, 2026. Watch the full episode
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Transcript
Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.
- 42:11
But it's not just that that money didn't do anything, or it doesn't appear to have done very much. A huge amount of it was spent in Texas, and there is nowhere, there is nowhere in the country that Republicans collapsed like they did in Texas. If you do this for a living, right, the dream of Blue Texas has, or really what appeared to be at first the fantasy of Blue Texas has been alive and well for decades.
- 42:34
Yeah. And now it's here. Alive and unwell for decades. Alive and unwell. The fantasy was alive. But hopes kept getting dashed. But Musk spent a tremendous amount of money, a large amount of that money, certainly plurality that went into Texas specifically. And I'm not sure it, I would go further than it, it bought him nothing. I think it hurt, right? People don't like their elections being bought.
- 42:59
There were two forms of one-man rule on the ballot, right? Trump's and his, and they both got crushed. And Musk has moved himself and a lot of his corporations to Texas. So the question of Musk is going to be a very interesting one going forward. the uh yeah i mean there's a lot to say about musk i hope that this means that when you verge or maybe more than verge on you know white supremacy or certainly white dominance as your central idea that you'll fail.
- 43:34
Like, I hope that's true. And replacement of human beings by robots. And replacement of human beings by robots. Might also not be hugely popular. Also not great, right? The AI centers are a huge electoral issue, right, that elites are maybe not focused on as much as they should be. I mean, I think they're pretty focused on this election. I mean, they, like, the amount that Democrats ran on that, I mean, Sherrod Brown running against Husted in Ohio ran heavily on data centers.
- 43:58
Hinojosa in Texas ran aggressively on data centers. Abdul Syed ran on data centers. I mean, so there were dozens of data center moratoriums on the ballot. And I think so far, every single one of them except for one has passed. The exception that proves the rule. So a little inside baseball. You came to The New York Times the week of January 6th, 2021.