The Capitol Report, produced by WisPolitics.com — a nonpartisan, Madison-based news service that specializes in coverage of government and politics — provides a weekly analysis of issues being debated in Wisconsin state government. It is underwritten by the WNA and produced exclusively for its members. WisPolitics.com President Jeff Mayers is a former editor and reporter for the Associated Press and a former political writer for the Wisconsin State Journal.
Data centers have played an outsized role in the early ad wars in the
2026 cycle with Wisconsin campaigns and groups spending $6.8 million
on such spots on broadcast TV over the past five months, according to
an early September review by WisPolitics.com.
That trails only taxes and healthcare for the topics with the most
spending so far when looking at the issues that voters in a recent
Marquette University Law School Poll ranked as the most important to
them.
Operatives working on fall campaigns said while issues such as
inflation are more pressing to voters overall, data centers have come
to symbolize a series of anxieties for voters, from rising costs to a
changing way of life. What’s more, voters don’t believe their state
representative can do much about rising costs, but they do have a say
in whether a new data center will be built next door.
“Data centers have become a proxy for affordability and cost, as well
as just the feeling that people are losing control,” said one Dem
operative.
The ad-tracking firm AdImpact recently noted that nationally data
centers ranked 43rd out of 78 issues for the current political cycle,
landing between foreign policy and fundraising. Still, it saw an
uptick in ads over the last couple of months.
WisPolitics then took data from the ad tracking service for topics
that have appeared in Wisconsin races since mid-April, after the
conclusion of the state Supreme Court race. It then took the top 10
list of topics that voters considered their No. 1 issue in the latest
Marquette University Law School Poll and compared the spending on each
topic.
Other issues besides those voters were asked about in the Marquette
poll have gotten serious play in ads. That includes President Donald
Trump, who’s been mentioned in $10.4 million worth of ads.
AdImpact logs up to three issues per ad in its database, meaning
there’s some overlap in the spending numbers.
The top 10 for spending were:
*Taxation at $16.4 million. The topic in the AdImpact database didn’t
break it out by property taxes, which was the most important topic to
6% of voters in the Marquette poll, tied for No. 5.
*Healthcare at $11.1 million; 10% of voters said health insurance was
their No. 1 issue, ranking third in last month’s poll.
*Data centers at $6.8 million; 5% of voters said it was their most
important issue, good for No. 7.
*Housing at $5.7 million; 6% of votes said housing affordability was
their No. 1 issue, tied for fifth highest.
*Crime at $5.2 million; it was the top issue for 1% of voters, ranking
10th highest in the Marquette poll.
*Immigration at $4.1 million; in the Marquette poll, 12% of voters
said illegal immigration and border security was their No. 1 issue.
The bulk of the spending on that issue was a $2.2 million ad buy from
the conservative Restoration of America PAC ad that included images of
Dem gubernatorial candidates Mandela Barnes, Francesca Hong and Sara
Rodriguez ahead of the primary. That spot also included transgender
issues.
*Education at $3.8 million; public schools was the top issue for 3% of
voters, ranking No. 9.
*Inflation at more than $3.6 million; inflation and the cost of living
was by far the most important issue to voters, with 43% saying it was
No. 1 on their list.
*Abortion at $3.6 million; it was the top issue for 4% of voters,
ranking eighth.
*Jobs and the economy at $2.9 million; it was the top issue for 7%,
ranking No. 4.
In some races, both sides are using the data center issue, like in
southwestern Wisconsin’s 17th Senate District, one of the key races
for control of the state Senate this fall.
That race pits Republican Howard Marklein, co-chair of the Joint
Finance Committee, against Rep. Jenna Jacobson, an Oregon Dem who was
first elected to the Assembly in 2022.
There, the Dem group New Wisconsin Majority has been running a
15-second ad on broadcast TV that charges “big tech” gave Marklein’s
campaign thousands and then he gave tax breaks “to their data
centers.” The spot concludes, “Doesn’t take AI to see that Howard
Marklein serves data centers, not us.”
The AdImpact data focuses on broadcast ads. Separately, WisPolitics
has been monitoring digital ads and tracked one from the GOP-aligned
Jobs First Coalition Inc. knocking Jacobson. The narrator in that spot
says she voted against legislation in the Assembly that would’ve
prevented “data centers from driving up energy costs for Wisconsin
families.” The narrator also says the bill would’ve prevented data
centers from wasting clean drinking water before closing the ad, “Tell
Rep. Jenna Jacobson her vote does not compute.”
Among broadcast ads in the governor’s race, GOP candidate Tom Tiffany
has put more than $1.1 million behind a spot that included a line
labeling his Dem rival as “Data Center David Crowley,” according to
the AdImpact data.
Crowley’s first ad of the general election includes a line promising
to hold data centers accountable and “make them pay.” AdImpact had
tracked $774,000 on that ad as Sept. 4.
Meanwhile, Protect Our Wisconsin, which is aligned with the Democratic
Governors Association, had put $643,000 behind a broadcast ad saying
“Tiffany sold us out on data centers” and voted to give their
operators a $68 billion tax cut.
Tiffany supporters seemed to have moved on from that issue for now,
but you can be sure that data centers will remain a part of the
political lexicon all the way through November.
For more, go to www.wispolitics.com
