Anti-data-center anger is reshaping Michigan’s primary

anti-data-center movement – In Michigan’s 7th district, Will Lawrence is turning backlash against data centers into a winning message for the August Democratic primary—backed by polling that shows strong support among younger voters. The campaign’s momentum also comes with friction insid

By the time Will Lawrence started running for Congress in Michigan’s 7th district, he didn’t expect data centers to become his campaign’s central battleground.

“People feel like they’re being utterly disrespected by the companies and the local officials who are welcoming them into town,” Lawrence told WIRED, describing how residents began approaching him at town halls and other meetings after he announced his candidacy last summer.

The follow-up questions were consistent—and personal. Voters weren’t just asking whether he understood their frustration. They wanted advice on how to channel the anger over data center development into something that could actually reshape local decisions.

Lawrence’s campaign frames data centers as a unifying political issue in the Democratic primary, which is scheduled for August. Senator Bernie Sanders has endorsed Lawrence, saying Lawrence is a candidate who will “demand real accountability for big tech and AI companies.”

But there’s a second layer to the story—one that Lawrence says he’s still learning from the same communities that oppose data centers.

As his campaign absorbs the anti-data-center energy, Lawrence says he’s also better understanding rural resistance to another kind of large-scale industrial project in Michigan: utility-scale renewable energy.

Inside the numbers, that focus is starting to bite. Internal polling conducted by Data for Progress of likely Democratic primary voters in the 7th district—shared with WIRED—found that more than 40 percent of respondents were “much more likely” to vote for a candidate who opposed data centers. The message landed hardest with younger voters: almost 80 percent of respondents under 45 said they’d be much more likely or more likely to support an anti-data-center candidate.

The 7th district includes the college county of Ingham.

The campaign’s internal picture contrasts with parts of the broader field. The Data for Progress poll put Lawrence ahead of both his opponents in the primary. Still. another poll—commissioned by one of Lawrence’s opponents and released in April—shows Lawrence winning the primary while also indicating the vast majority of voters remain undecided.

Fundraising also remains a gap for Lawrence. He remains a distant third in fundraising.

Data-center development is not a theoretical issue in Michigan. Cleanview, a clean-energy database, shows at least 11 data centers planned throughout Michigan.

Even so, Lawrence points to where opposition has mattered. Significant local pushback in two townships in the 7th district stalled at least two planned projects over the past year. Elsewhere in the state, developers have found ways around local resistance.

After a township in the 6th district voted against an Oracle data center earlier this year, the company sued—and the town allowed development to begin rather than fight a costly court battle.

On the state level, the political optics have been especially combustible. Earlier this month, Michigan governor Gretchen Whitmer appeared at the opening of the Oracle data center. She was photographed smiling next to OpenAI’s Sam Altman and praised the $16 billion investment.

For critics, the moment wasn’t just tone-deaf—it was fuel.

“Any candidate worth their weight knows that these data centers are toxic,” Cooper Teboe, a Democratic strategist based in California, said. Teboe added that candidates who don’t recognize the issue “are not candidates that are going to win.”

In Voters Not Politicians’ view, the governor’s move could backfire well beyond the data-center fight. Christy McGillivray, the executive director of the Michigan-based democracy reform organization, called Whitmer’s appearance a major misstep.

“It literally blew my mind,” McGillivray said. “I was like, ‘Are you trying to hurt the entire Democratic party?’”

Lawrence’s campaign, meanwhile, is navigating the complexity of coalition politics in a place where opposition to industrial projects doesn’t always travel with the same political compass.

Lawrence said that while on the campaign trail, he met with data center protesters who differed significantly with him politically. Those included people opposed to data center construction who were also opposed to solar and wind projects being built on farmland.

Michigan, for its part, has become a national reference point for how local governments resist big energy projects. A 2025 review ranked Michigan as the state with the largest number of local restrictions. More than 60 local governments in Michigan passed ordinances, moratoriums, or other restrictions on wind and solar development between 2011 and 2024. The report found that local opposition stalled or blocked at least 28 projects across the state.

That wider record helps explain why Lawrence’s anti-data-center message is finding traction far beyond a niche tech policy debate. In Michigan’s 7th district, residents aren’t just weighing jobs and infrastructure. They’re asking who gets to decide what gets built—and whether their concerns are being heard at all.

Michigan politics data centers AI Will Lawrence Bernie Sanders Gretchen Whitmer Oracle data center Cleanview Data for Progress Sunrise Movement cybersecurity implications renewable energy resistance