Scientific American's tally of 41 data-center ballot measures in ten states finds one result in the industry's favor, as Texas picks a governor who backed a pause

Concept illustration: at upper left a man in a dark sweater slips a sheet of paper into the top of a white box on a small table while a woman in a long beige coat stands behind him holding a sheet of paper, and at upper right a large domed, columned building is lettered TEXAS. In the foreground an open book on a table carries the large heading SCIENTIFIC AMERICAN across both pages, and below it a road runs in from the far left beside a row of low-fenced plots that grow larger toward the right, each with a small white box and a black horizontal bar, most under blank signboards and the one near the middle under a sign lettered DATA CENTER, followed by a pale pink strip holding a tall red upright bar beside a white box and a small beige box, and at the right a fenced plot under a sign lettered HARWOOD. Printed on the image: 1 of 41 measures in industry's favor, per one magazine.

Texas voters on November 3 elected Democrat Gina Hinojosa as governor, defeating incumbent Greg Abbott, who was seeking a fourth term. Our inference: for developers with Texas projects, state permission may now matter as much as grid power. Abbott's pause already covers state environmental permits, and the incoming governor campaigned on a pause.

The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit newsroom covering Texas state politics, lists data-center discontent as one factor in Hinojosa's win, not the main one. Texas alone accounts for more than a quarter of planned US data-center capacity; that is Yahoo Finance's figure, given without a statistical source (Yahoo Finance, 2026-11-04). Outlets describe Hinojosa's pledge at different strengths. Yahoo Finance says Hinojosa would order a halt on construction after taking office. The Texas Tribune says Hinojosa would push the legislature to pass a law. The campaign's July 23 press release called on Abbott to pause data centers until the legislature meets (Texas Tribune, 2026-11-03; Hinojosa campaign, 2026-07-23).

The one industry win in Scientific American's tally, in Harwood, North Dakota, was a vote against extra review, not a vote for data centers. Scientific American, the popular-science magazine, counted 41 local ballot measures tied to data centers across ten states; by November 4, when most results were in, only that one had gone the industry's way (Scientific American, 2026-11-04). Harwood voters rejected, by about three to one, a proposal to add review for industrial projects.

Abbott's own pause has already widened from grid connections to state environmental permits. On August 3 Abbott ordered an audit of every data center waiting to connect to the grid. On September 21 Abbott told the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality to issue no new data-center permits until audits by ERCOT, which runs the Texas grid, and the Texas Water Development Board are finished (Texas Tribune, 2026-08-03; Texas Tribune, 2026-09-21). No source says when the two audits end or whether Hinojosa will keep or lift the pause orders after taking office.

Our inference: if most of the 41 are outright bans or changes to city charters, the local rules voters adopt directly, developers cannot count on them lapsing on a set date. Local governments' administrative pauses do lapse that way.

Not proven yet: no report says a governor can pause private projects How we checked →

Next to watch: Hinojosa's first executive orders after taking office in January 2027, and when the ERCOT audit closes. If by the end of June 2027 new Texas data-center capacity is energized on schedule and no company's earnings call calls permits a supply constraint, this reading changes, even if the pause orders are still in place.

Source and checks

This item ran in the brief of Nov 5, 2026, alongside 13 other items. How we checked it, the quote checks and what was still missing that day are on that issue's How we checked page.

Cite this item

SecondSource (2026). "Scientific American's tally of 41 data-center ballot measures in ten states finds one result in the industry's favor, as Texas picks a governor who backed a pause." https://secondsource.io/en/news/2026-11-05-1/. Accessed access date.