GOP grip on Ohio, Texas in jeopardy amid data center fervor

GOP grip on Ohio, Texas in jeopardy amid data center fervor

The importance of AI data centers is growing this election cycle as the fight over the infrastructure’s costs and environmental impacts may be threatening Republicans in battleground states like Texas and Ohio .

Grassroots movements in rural communities, particularly where President Trump won by double-digit margins in each of his presidential bids, are threatening the rural vote the GOP has counted on for decades, experts and voters say.

The debate is ongoing in communities like Pickaway County, Ohio — which Trump won by around 50 points over former Vice President Kamala Harris in 2024, and where residents are airing their opinions on EdgeConneX’s latest data center.

“That’s weighing heavily, especially with the Senate races,” Pickaway County resident Sherri Fahringer, who is running for county commissioner, said regarding the data center issue.

Data centers are increasingly being built in rural communities, with 67 percent of planned projects slated in rural areas, according to an April Pew Research Center study.

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Top Science Democrat probes cuts to research spending at National Science Foundation

A key Democrat is looking into a massive amount of money that was appropriated to the National Science Foundation (NSF) but reportedly not spent. In a letter first shared with The Hill, House Committee on Science, Space and Technology ranking member Zoe Lofgren (D-Calif.) accused the foundation of violating “Congress’ power of the purse and the rightful separation of powers in our constitutional system” after a report that …

Meta settles with second plaintiff during trial over social media addiction

Meta settled a social media addiction lawsuit with an 18-year-old plaintiff on Friday, avoiding its next bellwether trial, which began jury selection this week. The case, filed by a woman from Mississippi dubbed “K.D.B.,” alleged her use of Instagram and Snapchat as a child worsened her mental health and contributed to her eating disorder, suicidal thoughts, depression and self-harm. K.D.B.’s case against …

Gen Z trusts elections, but not Washington

For younger voters, election-related corruption is less of a concern than for older generations. Four percent of Gen Zers say they’re worried about election fraud and cheating ahead of the midterms, compared with 14 percent of millennials, 21 percent of Gen Xers and 23 percent of baby boomers, per a CBS/YouGov poll.

News we’ve flagged from t he intersection of tech and other topics:

Google’s first data center satellite is online and writing poetry ( TechCrunch )

Big Tech’s data center bliz is burning through cash and scaring Wall Street ( The New York Times )

North Korea linked to $6.3B Binance hack

A North Korea-based cybercrime group appears to be behind a $6.3 billion hack of the cryptocurrency exchange Binance, according to two blockchain intelligence firms.

Both TRM Labs and Chainalysis tied the largest crypto hack on record to TraderTraitor , a North Korean hacking unit that has previously targeted the digital asset industry.

Billions of dollars’ worth of crypto began moving out of Binance wallets on Thursday afternoon. The company quickly suspended all deposits and withdrawals, and crypto firms froze about $3 billion in assets tied to the incident.

The attacker moved approximately $6.36 billion out of Binance wallets on XRP Ledger, Ethereum, Bitcoin, Tron, Solana and several other blockchain networks, with much of this occurring over the span of around 20 minutes, according to TRM Labs.

While the industry managed to freeze a significant portion of assets, the attacker still controls $2.4 billion “beyond any issuer’s reach,” the blockchain intelligence firm noted.

Check out a full report at TheHill.com .

Crypto Corner is a daily feature focused on digital currency and its outlook in Washington.

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