Dozens of protests against AI data centers set for this weekend: What to know

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Video above: Lawmakers express concerns that data centers will raise electric bills in May 2026.

(NEXSTAR) — Data centers have become a flash point across the U.S., with communities from a small lakeside town in Wisconsin to the state of New York taking a stand against them. Now, a conservative social movement is calling for Americans to protest the centers.

Humans First, chaired by former Tea Party leader Amy Kremer, is helping to lead demonstrations nationwide on Saturday. The organization is calling for the protests to pressure local, state, and federal politicians to take action against AI data centers, “protect our hometowns, our wallets, and our way of life,” and to “end the corporate welfare, sweetheart deals, and taxpayer bailouts.”

An organizer toolkit from Humans First points to many common arguments against the growing AI industry, including tax breaks for data centers, increases to power bills, and AI’s threat to youth mental health and American jobs.

The toolkit goes on to urge organizers to maintain “a peaceful protest,” warning that “anyone who wants to cause a riot is not welcome in our movement.” Further advice calls the protests “a movement of law-abiding, peaceful patriots” that is “not the cause of one political party.”

As of Tuesday, Humans First reports there are 120 protests planned across 37 states set for Saturday. That includes 18 in Texas, 12 in Florida, and eight each in California and Georgia.

Other states with at least one protest scheduled include Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, Wisconsin, and Wyoming.

More details about the protests can be found here.

Humans First notes that it does “not support a national data center moratorium, or even state moratoria, but each community must be able to decide what sort of life they want for themselves, and whether or not to have a data center built in them.”

Earlier this week, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul (D) imposed the nation’s first-ever statewide freeze on “hyperscale” data centers. The pause, which could be extended up to a year, is meant to allow New York the chance to establish a framework to protect the environment, the energy grid, and electric bills of New Yorkers, The Hill previously reported.

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