Mark Ruffalo Clashes with Hollywood & Data Centers Lose Support | 8.24.26

**Cabot Phillips** (0:00)
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**John Bickley** (0:50)
The political battle over data centers sparks calls for moratoriums in several states.

**Georgia Howe** (0:54)
Why are more Americans souring on building the centers?

**John Bickley** (0:58)
I'm Daily Wire executive editor John Bickley with Georgia Howe. It's Monday, August 24th. This is Morning Wire.

**Georgia Howe** (1:11)
Tensions between Hollywood and Paramount erupt as the studio eyes a massive merger and a potential move out of state. Why has actor Mark Ruffalo wound up at the center of the conflict?

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Well, just on the consolidation front, you know, we've just seen consolidation decimate our business.

**John Bickley** (1:29)
And the polarizing Lindsay Clancy trial is set to wind down this week. We have the latest from the trial.

**SPEAKER_5** (1:36)
You're on a Lindsay Clancy rest for a case.

**Georgia Howe** (1:39)
Thanks for waking up with Morning Wire. Stay tuned. We have the news you need to know.

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**Georgia Howe** (2:53)
While the economy and immigration remain at the forefront this midterm season, data centers are quickly becoming a top issue for millions of Americans, sparking a new political battleground in the states and DC.

**John Bickley** (3:05)
Wired in host Cabot Phillips is here to break it all down with us. Thanks for coming on, Cabot. So this topic has exploded onto the national scene this year. It's already impacting a number of crucial races in the midterm. It really has DC divided.
So get us up to speed on these data centers.

**Cabot Phillips** (3:22)
Yeah, it's just remarkable how quickly this topic has risen to the forefront nationally. So if you look back, there's also been a huge change in folks' opinions very quickly. So last March, polling from Chains Research showed that 65% of Americans supported data centers being built in their communities. Only 14% of Americans opposed them. But polling this month from Gallup shows that, get this, 70% of Americans now oppose them. So a complete reversal. And it was really Democratic politicians who were the first to come out in opposition to these facilities. Kathy Hochul announced a one-year moratorium on new data center construction up in New York. And then Bernie Sanders and AOC proposed a nationwide moratorium in Congress.
Initially, a lot of GOP lawmakers said, oh, that's great, more business for red states, keep those moratoriums up.
But as public sentiment shifted, upwards of 60% of Republicans now oppose data centers, they have responded in kind. That's how the GOP is following the Democrats' suit. To that point, the National Republican Senatorial Committee sent a private memo warning that support of data centers could cause them key races in Ohio and spread elsewhere. So they're basically telling Republican candidates, hey, be careful supporting these things. Now we've seen GOP Senate nominee Mike Rogers in Michigan come out in support also of a one-year moratorium. Elsewhere in Texas, Governor Greg Abbott, who's also on the ballot, has paused data center projects looking for access to the state power grid. And then a number of Republican gubernatorial candidates across Maine, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania have also stepped up their own anti-data center rhetoric. At this point, you could really count on one hand how many politicians in either party are campaigning in support of this technology despite the clear economic upside.