After the midterms, things are looking rocky for Elon Musk and data centers

Democrats' historic victory in this week's midterm elections could also have a dramatic effect on the tech industry.

In dozens of local ballot measures, voters rejected data centers . And even when they weren't voting on the issue directly, they were electing politicians — like Texas' new governor-elect Gina Hinojosa — who campaigned on the promise of restricting data centers.

On the latest episode of TechCrunch's Equity podcast , Kirsten Korosec, Sean O'Kane, and I discussed what the midterms mean for the tech industry. Sean kicked it off by noting that Elon Musk "seems to have basically nothing out of donating half a billion dollars" to Republicans, while his companies are now headquartered "in a state that has, remarkably, turned about as blue as it could possibly turn."

And Kirsten said that while data centers probably weren't the main cause of the "blue wave," they've become an "an increasingly grassroots issue, in part because of how hyperscalers and companies have gone about" getting their projects approved. And now, "we're already seeing companies like OpenAI all of a sudden go, 'Actually, we can change our policies.'"

Keep reading for a preview of our conversation , edited for length and clarity.

Sean O'Kane: First off, let's talk about the fact that one of the biggest data center builders was also the largest donor to the Republican Party. Elon Musk seems to have gotten basically nothing out of donating half a billion dollars — maybe even more, by the time we see the final count — and in fact is now sitting there with all of his businesses in a state that has, remarkably, turned about as blue as it could possibly turn for the first time in a very long time, if ever.

That, I think, is the biggest thing hanging above a lot of this discussion. But, there were also a bunch of ballot measures up around the country that would have paved the way for data centers to get built faster. Almost all of them got shot down, or voted against. [Actually, many of the ballot measures would have imposed restrictions or moratoriums on data centers, and almost all of those measures passed.]

With [Democrats] in power, there is a consensus view, at least in the tech world, that this is going to mean we have a lot of roadblocks ahead for data centers, especially in places like Texas, where [you have] folks like the governor-elect [Gina] Hinojosa, who has spoken pretty openly about this being a campaign promise and something that she wants to focus on once she takes power, now that she's beaten Greg Abbott.