Why Anger About Data Centers and Energy Prices May Not Swing Votes

Electricity costs around 50 percent more in Ohio than it did six years ago.Gas station fill-ups have gone up even more.

And where corn and soybeans once grew, banks of computers now sift through data in hulking gray warehouses that glow against the night sky.The pressures of soaring energy costs and the data center boom have handed Democrats a unique opportunity to make inroads in a state that Republicans have dominated for many years.But persuading voters to connect those issues to races for U.S.

Senate and governor has proved difficult.In more than two dozen interviews with The New York Times, Ohio residents described data centers as threats to their communities and expressed frustration with higher fuel and electricity bills.But few said they had been convinced to cross party lines — or show up to the polls if they usually did not.Becky Loel, a retired secretary, expects high gasoline and diesel prices to be fleeting.

Doyle Bross, a horse trainer with an easy laugh, considers the Republican Party part of his identity.Todd Leonard recently swapped his diesel truck for a gasoline model, and he waited over an hour at a community meeting this month to testify against a data center that had been proposed for a farm near his home.But Mr.

Leonard, a 45-year-old general contractor, has not voted recently and didn’t plan to in November.“It just doesn’t directly impact me,” he said of the midterm elections.That voting habits are so sticky partly reflects the power of party affiliation and inertia about the act of voting, even at a time of broad discontent with the economy and President Trump’s handling of it.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.

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