Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts told the Financial Times that “Conservatives were apoplectic about data centres”, the FT reported on 12 November, in a piece on Republican figures who tie the party’s losses in the 3 November midterms to AI. At a Heritage event on 11 November, Representative Chip Roy of Texas said voters rejected AI leaders, “including Elon”, who told them they would lose their jobs, the FT reported.
Federal Election Commission filings we checked show about $287.7 million from Elon Musk to federal committees this cycle, as we reported on 4 November. In Texas, which the FT named as the state where AI concern mattered most, average household electricity prices rose 5.6% in January to August from a year earlier, below the US average of 6.8%, EIA data show; Texas ranked 35th of 50 states plus DC, by our arithmetic.
Business Pill · Grid Cost Allocation
A short Business Engineer explainer on how the cost of new grid lines is allocated between customers. It teaches the general idea only and does not discuss the midterms or the people named here.
The key insight: As we read the FT report, the two Heritage voices point at different things: Roberts at Big Tech’s power and data centres, Roy at AI leaders’ talk of lost jobs, and Roy said the anger was not about water and electricity; in Texas, EIA data show household prices rose 5.6% in January to August, below the US 6.8%, by our arithmetic.
Roberts, a co-author of the Project 2025 manifesto, said “The left . . . did a brilliant job, politically speaking, of taking that issue from the right”. He said it was “an under-appreciated mistake” for Republicans not to have listened to voters who were concerned about the AI industry’s growing power, according to the FT, which said he also cited the economic consequences of the war in Iran.
“At Heritage, we are very circumspect of almost all of these tech giants, because we don’t trust them,” Roberts said. He said he supported the president, who the FT said had said in August that opponents of data centres would end up “backwards and poor”. The FT added that the party has accepted hundreds of millions of dollars in donations from AI executives, including Musk.
Change in the average residential electricity price, January to August 2026 against the same months of 2025, for the eight states (including DC) with the largest rises, the US average and Texas. Data: US Energy Information Administration, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.B, released 23 October 2026. Percentage changes and the rank (Texas 35th of 50 states plus DC) are our arithmetic.
What Was Posted on X
This was the first election with data centers on the ballot, but it won’t be the last. My colleague Annie has already done important work on AI policy and is an excellent resource for policymakers who will need to navigate the trade-offs between the benefits of AI and data centers and Americans’ legitimate concerns about both.
Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts posted at 16:17 UTC on 5 November, two days after the vote, that it was the first election with data centers on the ballot and would not be the last, and pointed policymakers to a Heritage colleague’s AI policy work. The piece uses it as Roberts’ own earlier statement; his remarks on the losses come from the FT interview.
What Roy and Soltis Anderson Said at Heritage
Roy, speaking at the Heritage event to assess the results, said voters were not angry about data centres’ water and electricity use, according to the FT. He said AI leaders, “including Elon”, had been telling them “you’re going to lose your job in 10 years” and that “you are going to have this big box in your backyard, and you’re going to like it, ’cause we gotta beat China”.
The American people rejected this, Roy said, adding: “I was kind of with them”. Republican pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson, another panellist, called AI concerns the “background music of this midterm” and said it was “going to be a huge issue in 2028”.
Texas: Power Prices and the Money
The FT reported that concern over AI played a major role in several House and Senate races, especially in Texas, where Democrats including governor-elect Gina Hinojosa campaigned against new data centres and the influence of Musk, who it said spent roughly $225mn supporting Republicans in the state. Hinojosa has pledged a day-one freeze on electricity rates.
The EIA’s Electric Power Monthly, released on 23 October, puts the average Texas residential price at 16.03 cents per kilowatthour for January to August 2026, up from 15.18 cents a year earlier. The US average rose to 18.19 cents from 17.03. By our arithmetic, 28 of the 50 states plus DC saw faster rises than the US average; Ohio and Virginia rose 13.0% and Pennsylvania 12.0%, ranking 4th, 5th and 8th.
The FEC filings we checked show America PAC, the super PAC Musk funds, received about $216.0 million of his $287.7 million through 14 October, as covered in our FEC piece. The FT’s Texas figure of roughly $225mn is its own; we have not matched it to filings. In the NBC News national exit poll, 56% of voters called AI and data centers crucial or a major factor, as we reported.
The Structural Read
As we read the EIA table, the largest household price rises this year were in DC, New Hampshire, Hawaii, Ohio and Virginia, while Texas ranked 35th of 50 states plus DC; statewide averages do not show what drove any change, so the table neither confirms nor rules out data centres as a cause.
As we read the money, the FEC filings we checked put Musk’s federal contributions this cycle at about $287.7 million, with about $216.0 million to America PAC; the FT’s roughly $225mn for Texas is a separate, state-level figure that we have not matched to filings.
Kevin Roberts, Heritage Foundation president, to the Financial Times, 12 November 2026
“Conservatives were apoplectic about data centres”
Three Implications
FOR AI COMPANIES Roberts said Heritage is very circumspect of almost all of these tech giants, and Roy named AI leaders including Musk, the FT reported.
FOR DATA-CENTRE POLITICS Senator Josh Hawley listed a data centre moratorium among Senate Republican priorities on 11 November, as we reported, and Hinojosa has pledged a freeze on electricity rates in Texas.
FOR 2028 Pollster Kristen Soltis Anderson said AI was going to be a huge issue in 2028, the FT reported; that is her view, not a forecast of ours.
The framework says: “The structural bottleneck isn’t computing, it’s electrons.”
As we read it, the Heritage remarks put that constraint in political terms: who pays for the electrons, and who decides where the buildings go. The framework predates the midterms and does not discuss them.
Average residential electricity price, January to August 2025 and 2026, cents per kilowatthour: US average 17.03 to 18.19, Texas 15.18 to 16.03, Virginia 15.00 to 16.95, Ohio 16.64 to 18.81, Pennsylvania 18.86 to 21.13. Data: US EIA, Electric Power Monthly Table 5.6.B, released 23 October 2026. Ranks by percentage rise are our arithmetic.
What Is Not Established
The remarks come from the FT’s report, read in full; we did not read a transcript or watch video of the Heritage event. The FT article does not include a response from Musk or the White House, and we did not contact Musk, Heritage, Roy or Soltis Anderson for this piece.
The EIA prices are statewide averages across all utilities and do not separate any effect of data centres; August is the latest month published. The FEC total covers federal committees only, not state-level spending. Election results and their causes are not measured here.
This Week In The AI Supercycle
The Great Convergence of Capital, Power, and Geopolitics
This week’s issue: for two years the AI build-out was priced as a supply story, and last week as a credit story. This week it was priced as a permission story, and the answer arrived as a cost, not a ban.
Roberts and Roy tied the losses to AI and data centres, and Roy said the anger was not about water and electricity. Texas household power prices rose 5.6% in the first eight months of 2026, below the US 6.8%, by our arithmetic on EIA data, while Musk’s federal contributions this cycle total about $287.7 million in the filings we checked.
A note on sourcing. The remarks by Kevin Roberts, Chip Roy and Kristen Soltis Anderson come from the Financial Times report of 12 November, which we read in full; we did not attend or watch the Heritage event. Electricity prices are from the US Energy Information Administration’s Electric Power Monthly (Table 5.6.B, released 23 October 2026). The FEC figures are from our 4 November reading of Federal Election Commission filings. Percentage changes, ranks and counts are our arithmetic. We did not contact the people named for this piece.
Gennaro Cuofano is a CRO and tech executive who has worked in AI since late 2015, starting with bringing NLP, natural-language generation, voice and chatbot products to the marketing industry. His background is in law and finance: he holds a Master's degree in Law and an International MBA with an emphasis on corporate finance (LUISS Business School and the University of San Diego, 2012), and worked as a financial analyst at a real-estate investment firm in San Diego and as an assistant controller. His work focuses on business model strategy, business engineering and, more broadly, structural analysis: how companies make money, read from their own filings. He created FourWeekMBA and leads research there and at The Business Engineer, his newsletter on AI and business strategy, with over 95,000 subscribers and more than 1,000 published analyses. His writing has also appeared on Entrepreneur (for example, How to Digitize a Family Business in Europe) and HackerNoon. Find him on LinkedIn and Substack. See how we source.
