Midterms to Be Held Next Week, Congressional Map in Focus
The United States will hold midterm elections on 十一月三日, with results to determine whether Democrats can retake control of Congress from the Trumpled Republicans. According to polls, Democrats are widely favored to win the House, while whether the Senate will flip remains uncertain. In Trump's first 頭兩年 in office, Republicans continued to control both the House and Senate.
Backlash Against Data Centers Heats Up, 七成一 Opposed
Data centers provide computing power for training and running AI models and are key to AI industry development, but have sparked opposition across the US over power demand, utility costs and local impacts. An October poll showed about 七成一 of Americans oppose building AI data centers in their local area, higher than the 五成三 who oppose nuclear power plants.
The main reasons for opposition include massive power consumption by data centers, with costs for substation upgrades and grid expansion potentially passed on to household electricity bills; cooling equipment requiring large amounts of water, raising concerns over water competition or pollution and higher water bills; low-frequency noise pollution from cooling equipment operating around the clock, and limited long-term contribution to local employment. The backlash has become a political pressure point for Trump.
Trump Voices Support for Plants, Urges Community Givebacks
In an interview with TIME magazine, Trump said Europe and China are actively pursuing data centers, and if the US does not build them, the facilities will be built elsewhere, adding he does not want China to acquire large numbers of data centers. He wrote on Truth Social that if AI data center development is to be welcomed, companies building them should pay dividends to the communities hosting the facilities. Investors are also closely watching state and local elections in Texas and elsewhere to assess the impact on data center construction.
Blue Wave Could Pressure Markets
Markets generally believe that no legislation under either a Republican or Democratic win would pose a serious risk to AI investment, but a sweeping Democratic victory in both chambers could bring tighter regulation. Rick Meckler, partner at Cherry Lane Investments, said if Democrats ride a blue wave to a sweeping victory, it would be somewhat negative for AI stocks, tech stocks to some extent, and even the overall market. Beyond AI-related and tech stocks, defense and healthcare stocks could also be affected by the fiscal spending outlook, while Wall Street banks and cryptocurrency companies could face stricter regulatory scrutiny if Democrats sweep both chambers.