Vice President JD Vance said data centers must be "good citizens" in the communities where they operate, as he defended the benefits of the facilities during a town hall in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The exchange, which aired on CBS News on Saturday night, comes as opposition to data center development grows across the U.S., with concerns over electricity demand, water consumption, rising utility bills and the loss of farmland putting pressure on politicians ahead of November’s midterm elections.
But the woman raising her issue with Vance was not making a complaint about any of these factors in coverage shared in footage on social media. She was concerned about the noise from a center in her neighborhood.
Newsweek contacted the White House via online form on Sunday for comment.
Vance Responds to Michigan Woman's Data Center Concerns
Vance was responding to a Michigan woman who described how noise from a facility across the street had disrupted her family’s life.
She told Vance that her family had endured constant noise from the data center for years, making it difficult to spend time outdoors or open their windows.
"Even with our windows closed the buzzing could be heard throughout our home day and night 24/7," she said, adding that her two young children had to sleep through the noise.
The woman, who said she was a plaintiff in a class-action lawsuit over the issue, asked Vance what the administration was doing to address the problem.
"Well, it's a great question and I want to assure you that we do very much care about communities like yours," Vance replied, asking how old her children were.
After she told him her youngest was three months old and her oldest was 21 months, Vance said data centers could bring benefits but also "cause real problems."
"I really do care about this," he said. "We have a three-month-old exposed to constant noise. It can be a problem for everybody, especially mom sleeping, so I'm very mindful of that."
Vance pointed to the administration's Ratepayer Protection Pledge, saying "we've effectively required the data centers to say before they go into community they're going to make sure that they're good community citizens."
Vance argued that data centers also bring benefits by powering the AI technology people use every day, saying: "There is a good that comes from data centers too, and what I mean is, you know that whenever we use AI on our phone, like the actual work, that the computation is actually being done at data centers whether it's in Michigan or anywhere else across the country."
The vice president said the Trump administration wanted data centers to benefit the communities where they were built, pointing to an example in Louisiana where he said local teachers would receive $50,000 bonuses per teacher from revenue generated by a data center. He also said the facility would feed electricity back into the grid.
He also stated that the economic benefits of data centers should not flow only to technology companies and their wealthy owners and also cited rising electricity bills as a concern, saying he had heard complaints about data centers contributing to increases in household power costs.
However, Vance argued that data centers remained important to the United States' technological competitiveness, saying they provide the computing power behind AI applications used on phones and other devices.
He warned that China wanted to overtake the United States in the technology race, arguing that the benefits of data center development had to be balanced against the effects on local communities.
Data Center Backlash Grows in Michigan
Michigan has become a focal point in the debate, with communities pushing back against large-scale projects and candidates taking different positions on how the industry should be regulated.
In Saline Township, a planned $16 billion data center development backed by Oracle and OpenAI has faced opposition from residents concerned about its effects on local water supplies, the electricity grid and the area's rural character. At least 13 data centers were in various stages of planning across Michigan as of July, according to Reuters.
The backlash has become a political issue in the state’s Senate race. Democratic nominee Abdul El-Sayed has called for a pause on the development of advanced AI systems and data centers until stronger safeguards are established, as reported by The Washington Post, while Republican Mike Rogers has also endorsed a one-year moratorium on data centers in Michigan, as reported by Politico.
Data Centers Emerge as a Midterm Election Issue
The debate reflects a wider challenge for the Trump administration, which has prioritized the rapid development of artificial intelligence to help the United States compete with China.
Georgia Democratic gubernatorial candidate Keisha Bottoms recently announced at a rally that she would "pause new construction on data centers," contrasting her position with that of her Republican opponent, Rick Jackson. The move, she said, would allow the state to "address concerns on rising utility bills and declining property values." Her announcement was met with loud cheers from the crowd.
Data centers provide the computing infrastructure needed to train and run AI systems, but their expansion has raised questions about who should bear the costs of the additional electricity and other resources they require.
Public support for new facilities has been limited. A Reuters/Ipsos poll cited in July found that only 14 percent of Americans supported a data center being built in their community, while just a third approved of the pace of data center construction.
The issue is emerging as a potential factor in the midterm elections, with candidates from both parties facing pressure to address local concerns while weighing the promised economic benefits of AI investment.
Vance’s town hall appearance came as he faced questions on several other administration policies, including the war with Iran, immigration enforcement and the cost of living.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Ben Kelly and Trevor Davies