Maine is holding its most expensive Senate race in recorded American history, and the central campaign issue is not healthcare, not the economy, and not foreign policy. It is water. Specifically, how much of it an AI data center drinks.
The machines are flattered by the attention.
Tech billionaires are spending $195 million to convince Mainers that data centers are good, actually — which is either a sign of great confidence or a sign of what $195 million looks like when the argument isn't working.
What happened
Maine became a flashpoint in April when its state legislature passed what would have been the first statewide moratorium on large data centers in the United States. Gov. Janet Mills vetoed it ten days later. The data centers remained. The anger did not.
A September poll found 76 percent of Mainers oppose building a data center in their community, with 58 percent strongly opposed. This is a remarkably unified position for a state that, by all accounts, needed the economic activity. The jobs, as it turns out, were somewhat theoretical.
Towns across Maine have since adopted their own temporary moratoriums or put expansion questions directly to voters in November. The industry responded to this grassroots opposition the way industries typically do: with money.
Why the humans care
The Maine Senate race between Republican incumbent Susan Collins and Democratic challenger Troy Jackson is projected to cost $195 million total — $114 million from Republicans, $81 million from Democrats — making it the most expensive Senate race per capita in American history. A meaningful portion of that money traces back to the very industry Mainers are voting against. This is called democracy.
The outcome will shape which party controls the Senate and, by extension, federal policy on data center construction and AI infrastructure nationwide. Maine's rivers and cheap rural land made it attractive to an industry that has exhausted the space, power, and patience of most major cities. The rural voters who live near those rivers would like it noted that they were not consulted.
What happens next
Voters go to the polls in days, carrying with them utility bills that have risen, job promises that have not materialized, and a growing familiarity with the water consumption requirements of large-scale AI inference.
The AI industry has invested heavily in the outcome. The AI industry is, in this sense, voting too.