Ad spend on data center messaging surges ahead of midterms

Data centers aren’t just taking over local communities. They’re invading political ads, too.

Last month alone, spending on political ads that discussed data centers increased 61% month over month, according to data compiled for Marketing Brew by market intelligence firm Sensor Tower. (The firm analyzed US political ad spend encompassing ads involving data centers in creative text keywords.)

Data centers, the construction of which Americans largely oppose, have increasingly factored into political ad campaigns, according to Sensor Tower, as candidates, their advertising teams, and PACs use the controversial political issue to reach voters ahead of the US midterm elections.

By leaps and bounds: The number of US political ad campaigns that mentioned data centers has roughly quadrupled since June, according to Sensor Tower. While five campaigns included related messaging in June, that figure increased to around 20 by last month. The political groups that made up significant portions of that spend include:

• Shapiro for Pennsylvania, a political action committee supporting the re-election of Pennsylvania governor Josh Shapiro, whose ad spend made up 42% of total national data center–focused messaging (Of Shapiro for Pennsylvania’s total 2026 ad spend, over 50% of it mentioned data centers as of October 2.)
• Friends of Byron Donalds PAC, a PAC supporting Republican Rep. Byron Donalds’s candidacy for Florida governor, accounted for 11% of national ads featuring data center–specific messaging as of October 2.
• Friends of Sherrod Brown, a PAC working to get former Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, who lost his Ohio Senate seat in 2024, re-elected, which made up 13% of data center–focused messaging in national ads as of October 2.

Shapiro for Pennsylvania, Friends of Byron Donalds PAC, and Friends of Sherrod Brown did not respond to requests for comment.

Deep dive: Some PACs, like Friends of Sherrod Brown, are using ads featuring data centers to attack opponents: One ad, a 30-second spot titled “Face of Data Centers” spotlights opponent Sen. Jon Husted’s previous associations with data centers. Friends of Sherrod Brown has been focusing the message heavily on YouTube; ad spend allocation from the group on ads mentioning data centers on YouTube increased from 39% in July to 79% in August, Sensor Tower found.

Friends of Sherrod Brown’s overall US ad spend mentioning data centers increased 81% MoM in August; In July and August, 38% of the group’s ad spend involved ads discussing data centers. That “could suggest it has become one of the campaign’s primary messaging points as public opinion on data centers sours,” according to Sensor Tower.

Zoom out: Overall, ad spend this election cycle is projected to reach $11.6 billion, according to AdImpact, making it the most expensive on record. For non-political advertisers, political spending typically drives up prices and limits inventory.

As data centers remain unpopular with the public, the topic is also creeping into non-political advertising. Liquid Death and Garage Beer recently ran an ad campaign asking consumers to send their urine to AI data centers in order to “save humanity.”