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- National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said he expects data center growth to continue as projected, despite Democrats’ midterm election landslide.
- Americans voted to restrict the development of data centers in the majority of the dozens of initiatives that appeared on election ballots nationwide.
- “America is a big place, and right now, the data centers scheduled over the next couple of years aren’t affected by these ballot initiatives,” Hassett told CNBC.
watch nowVIDEO03:35NEC Director Kevin Hassett: Any locality that doesn’t want a data center doesn’t have to allow itSquawk on the Street
National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett said Friday he expects data center growth to continue as projected, despite the blue-wave election that saw voters overwhelmingly favor limiting the tech infrastructure buildout.
Hassett, on CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street,” acknowledged the dozens of measures on states’ midterm ballots seeking to constrain data centers, a crucial part of President Donald Trump‘s push to win the global artificial intelligence race.
In at least 46 of the roughly 50 such initiatives on ballots in 2026, majorities voted to restrict development of the facilities, according to Ballotpedia’s tally.
“We respect the localities that decide that’s what they want to do,” Hassett said. “But America is a big place, and right now, the data centers scheduled over the next couple of years aren’t affected by these ballot initiatives.”
“And the stuff after that, you know, there’s plenty of room in the U.S. for data center growth to continue, as it was projected ahead of the election,” he said.
Hassett said he expects data centers will continue to expand in states with more welcoming governors, and he suggested that even hostile states will eventually come around.
“That’s exactly what’s going to happen,” he said. “That, or what’ll happen will be that the benefits of the data centers will be so obvious that people decide to change their minds about the way they regulate them.”
watch nowVIDEO07:44Watch CNBC’s full interview with NEC director Kevin HassettSquawk Box
Hassett also blamed Thursday’s tech-driven market plunge on “uncertainty about what the political change is going to mean for data centers going forward.”
“We’ve now got a … new majority that maybe is going to go in there and muddle around in there, and I think that markets are anxious about that,” he said.
“But I think that the economic strength that we see everywhere else is so strong, and of course, in the end, you could take something that’s growing as fast as the data centers and make it grow a little bit slower, and you still have a blockbuster economy.”
“And so, I think we’re still very, very optimistic about what’s going to happen going forward,” he said.
The CNBC Voter Poll found 56% of midterm voters identified data centers as either a crucial or major issue — and of those who considered it crucial, 62% favored the generic Democratic candidate.
Trump has strongly embraced AI and data centers and has even tried to reverse their seeming unpopularity by rebranding the tech as “super intelligence,” or SI.
In a Truth Social post Friday, Trump made clear that despite the midterm losses, his support for the nascent industry has not faltered.
“As President, I am 100% in favor of Super Intelligence (SI), and will work with the many States in the U.S. that want to become RICH by having them,” Trump wrote. “They are GOLD, and only foolish leadership will say ‘NO’ to the riches they bring!”
