To: Interested Parties
From: Sara Schreiber, SVP of Campaigns, LCV Victory Fund
Date: October 2, 2026
Re: MEMO: Republicans are Losing the Data Center Debate

The data center debate continued to fuel conversation this week as Dirty Dozen member Senator Jon Husted failed to push through the Ratepayer Protection Act, which only asked states to “consider” regulations on data center developers instead of offering legislation with any real accountability. This week we are taking a look at new ad testing based on our $2 million data center ad program currently running in 6 House districts, stories from the field, and sharing ads that dropped on the airwaves this week. 

New Polling Shows Potency of Data Center Hit

Ad testing from Blue Rose Research shows that LCV Victory Fund’s “Incredible Deal” ad, which is running in AZ-06, IA-03, MI-07, MN-01, VA-01, and WI-03 determines that the ads increased unfavorability for Republicans by 8 percentage points and moved vote choice towards Democratic candidates by 4.7 percentage points. The ads focused on incumbent Republicans in those districts who took data center-linked donations, voted to give billions in tax breaks to data center developers and left their voters with polluted local water and rising energy bills.

Gaining Ground

By the numbers: 

Across Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Ohio and Wisconsin:

• 706,831 doors knocked 
• 76,765 door contacts

Notes from the Field:

• Michigan: In Royal Oak, Gus noted that rising utility bills are his top policy issue and expressed his support for Abdul El-Sayed specifically because he believes in his promise to make Michigan more affordable.  

• Nevada: In Las Vegas, we spoke with Rob who is frustrated by rising costs across the board from rent to groceries and let us know he plans to vote for Aaron Ford this November.

• Ohio: In Cleveland, Josh expressed real concerns about rising costs and noted that he feels people need 2-3 jobs just to get by. 

New on the Air 

BREAKING: Today, LCV Victory Fund launched a $400,000 ad campaign in Montana opposing Aaron Flint (MT-01). In this ad, Montanan Charlie highlights Flint’s record of support for giving tax breaks to data center developers, increasing housing and electricity costs, and pushing a plan that could mean the sell off of public lands. The ad will run on YouTube and CTV until October 12th.

Today, LCV Victory Fund also launched a $2 million digital ad campaign focused on Senator Jon Husted’s record on data centers. This ad comes after Senator Husted’s failed attempt this week to pass the Ratepayer Protection Act, which only asked states to “consider” regulations on data center developers instead of offering legislation with any real accountability. The program also includes $2,500,000 in mail that targets Husted on his history with FirstEnergy. The digital ad will run on CTV through October 12th. 

📺 Is this thing on (the air)?

Check out our ongoing paid media campaigns below:

###

Paid for by LCV Victory Fund, www.lcvvictoryfund.org, and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee.