Politics no longer sits outside the boardroom

politics is – By 2026, government decisions—from city halls to federal agencies—are shaping the most consequential business calls companies make, including expansion, hiring, and AI rollouts. The piece argues that firms that treat government relations as a long-term operati

For as long as many executives can remember, politics felt like something that happened somewhere else—Washington, D.C., the cable news cycle, or the comments section after a controversial decision. In 2026, that illusion breaks.

Politics now runs through day-to-day business choices. Expanding to new markets. Reshaping a workforce. Rolling out AI tools. Making any decision that truly matters. In practice. that means outcomes are increasingly shaped by decisions made inside government organizations—whether it’s a city hall or a state capital. or a federal agency that can pull companies in different directions.

The old playbook assumed a company could “stay out of politics” by relying on a small federal team or an occasional check-in with a local representative or the governor’s office. But the environment has shifted into what the author describes as a three-level system. where overlapping rules often conflict as they come from different government levels. Local and federal decisions can collide, and the incentives behind them can be mismatched.

That unpredictability is where the strain builds for business leaders. A proposal that appears to be a technocratic tweak in one jurisdiction can become a proxy fight in another. A clean-energy investment praised by a big-city mayor can trigger backlash in a state legislature. Even hiring efforts built around local workforce needs can be upended by federal immigration or labor rules.

In that setting, the companies that do better aren’t the ones that pretend government will leave them alone. The argument is that they stop treating government relations like a crisis tool and start treating it as a core operating capability—investing seriously and long-term in both internal and external teams that can serve as “eyes and ears” in city. state. and even Washington. D.C. while embedding political awareness into how decisions are made.

The article points to Atlanta as a case where the tension between city momentum and state politics is hard to miss. Atlanta, described as a city the author has called home for many years, has grown more progressive over time. But it sits under a conservative state legislature led by a Republican governor. The author links similar patterns to Austin. Charlotte. and Nashville—places experiencing growth as the ideological gap between city and state politics widens.

That broader mismatch, the piece illustrates, can be costly when it catches companies flat-footed. It describes how cloud computing giants faced fierce political backlash in Northern Virginia tied to data center expansions and soaring energy demands. Yet it says those companies still failed to get ahead of the issue in Georgia—now described as the industry’s fastest-growing market. The result. according to the article. is a repeat pattern of community and political resistance over land and power usage. including moratoriums on new data centers in multiple Georgia counties.

In other words, the friction wasn’t hypothetical. It had already shown up in one geography, but the article argues it wasn’t treated early enough in another.

What complicates the picture is that political fracture doesn’t mean nothing gets done. The author stresses that bipartisanship remains visible in state and local governance, even as the country’s politics churn.

Two examples are offered. In Georgia. the article says Republican Governor Brian Kemp’s $50 million Homelessness Response Grant boosts Democratic Mayor Andre Dickens’ local housing initiatives. funding emergency shelters and wraparound services ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup. In Ohio. it describes a coordination between Republican Governor Mike DeWine and Democrat Mayor Andrew Ginther: state environmental grants paired with city utility infrastructure through the H2Ohio project. aimed at accelerating the removal of toxic lead service lines from Columbus childcare centers.

Even when instability is present, the article says elected officials often prioritize the public good over partisan optics. The practical takeaway is blunt: when businesses show up early. stay engaged. and build authentic relationships across partisan lines. they often find alignment—sometimes around jobs and infrastructure. and sometimes around housing and long-term growth.

That alignment can’t be mistaken for taking sides. The author is clear that embracing government relations isn’t about turning a company into a partisan actor in a narrow sense. It’s about treating public power and public visibility at all levels of government as a permanent condition of doing business—and investing accordingly.

Handled well, the article argues the returns can be meaningful. Proactive government relations. it says. can help guard against political decisions made by leaders who are unfamiliar with an industry and its contributions. It can also reduce the chances that a company’s brand becomes a proxy for someone else’s political grievance.

There’s another incentive layered on top: intentional advocacy can open doors to one of the largest and most reliable markets in the world—the government itself. As a massive consumer buyer across technology and textiles. the public sector represents a vital partner and revenue stream for companies that understand how to navigate its complexities and cultivate champions inside it.

For the author, the conclusion is not subtle. The future belongs to companies that proactively lean into the intersection of public and private sectors—rather than waiting for a crisis to force the learning.

Howard Franklin is the founder and CEO of Ohio River South.

government relations political risk business strategy corporate lobbying data centers homelessness response grant H2Ohio lead service lines FIFA World Cup 2026 Atlanta Georgia legislature Brian Kemp Andre Dickens Mike DeWine Andrew Ginther Howard Franklin