‘Like being hit between the eyes with a sledgehammer’: Meet the one town in America that defied election trends and voted in favor of data centers

Key points

• Harwood, a town of about 940 people, voted against an amendment to its Home Rule Charter intended to limit how the city evaluates and approves industrial projects, including data centers.
• The initiative emerged after Applied Digital Corp. began construction of a large data-center campus, with Oracle named as the end-user, on a site that could expand to 900 acres.
• Advocates argued for stronger governance, including independent reviews and public hearings, while opponents warned the measure would impose administrative burdens and could jeopardize tax incentives.
• Local actors cited concerns such as noise near an elementary school and questioned whether officials and the community had adequate time and information to assess long-term impacts.
• Opposition included city officials who believed the measure could push back development and strip the town of anticipated tax benefits, with projections of significant tax revenue already in play.
• The broader national context shows data centers as a flashpoint in midterm politics, with companies promoting community benefits and governments seeking to balance energy costs, growth, and local control.