Did the Midterms Destroy All Hope for Data Centers? | E2360
November 6, 2026 · 1 h 8 min
🎙️ Full episode
DEBRIEFWritten and voiced by AI from the episode's audio
On the Friday after the midterms, Jason Calacanis dissects why the market panic over Democrats' anti-data-center messaging is overblown. Despite voters rejecting rapid AI expansion and data center construction bans passing in Ohio, Kansas, Florida, California, and Texas, Jason argues that campaign rhetoric will transform into pragmatic dealmaking once officials take office. He predicted this pivot months ago: Democrats will negotiate with tech companies for tax payments, sustainable energy use, union labor, and community benefits rather than imposing blanket bans. The episode reviews Jason's track record on Trump's AI policy (which he graded A+), tariff chaos, meme coins, and the civil war within the Republican Party between tech oligarchs and America First advocates. OpenAI, Meta, Microsoft, Google, and Anthropic have already announced data center commitments. Jason frames the current market dip as a generational buying opportunity and warns that slowing AI infrastructure would trigger recession. He also covers Anthropic's first content licensing deal with the AP, Apple's aggressive cuts to AI spending caps for engineers, and broader questions about how tech leaders will recalibrate their public positioning now that Democrats hold Congress.
🎧 AI Debrief
Show notes
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Today’s show:
Democrats swept the midterms, and a lot of their candidates ran explicitly against AI data centers. Then on Thursday, the Nasdaq fell 5%. But fear not: Jason says the panic is overblown. Back in August, he predicted that the anti-data center rhetoric on the campaign trail would transform into cutting a deal once the voters were counted.
On TWiST, Jason and Lon discuss the route to compromise that could define the next year of AI discourse. Find out why Jason still gives President Trump an A+ on AI, even as he lost touch with the country’s mood on other issues.
Plus we’re checking out some highlights from the archive, as the show followed the decline of Trump 2.0 in real time, and Jason explains his simple method for staying informed and in touch with everyday reality. (Talk to lots of different people!)
Plus: OpenAI’s post-election pledge, Anthropic’s first content licensing deal, Apple cuts engineer AI budgets, Lon’s latest This Week in AI demo, and the guys get mega-hyped for “Godzilla Minus Zero.”
Relevant Links
Voters rebuff data centers in every ballot measure except one (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/04/data-center-ballot-measures-2026-midterm.html
Hinojosa's call for a data center moratorium until the legislature acts (campaign): https://ginafortexas.com/2026/07/new-hinojosa-calls-on-greg-abbott-to-put-moratorium-on-data-centers-until-a-legislative-session-that-puts-texans-first/
Talarico defeats Ken Paxton (Texas Tribune): https://www.texastribune.org/2026/11/03/texas-ken-paxton-james-talarico-us-senate-elections-2026/
Microsoft pulls out of its UK data center deal with Nscale (Computing): https://computing.co.uk/news/2026/ai/microsoft-exits-nscale-deal-ipo-at-risk
Gavin Baker on TX data center rules: https://x.com/GavinSBaker/status/2118420042283102604
California's billionaire tax (Prop 40) goes down (Bloomberg): https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2026-11-05/california-voters-poised-to-reject-first-ever-billionaire-tax
TWiST E2113 w/ Steven Borrelli of Cuts: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_qxDoJvzSiY
TWiST E2332 w/ Jason’s data center prediction: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojSmG6xHCdI
OpenAI pledges to pay for its data centers' power and halt NDAs (CNBC): https://www.cnbc.com/2026/11/05/openai-to-pay-for-data-center-power-after-election-shows-ai-concern.html
Anthropic strikes its first licensing deal, with the AP, for election coverage (Adweek): https://www.ad