Elon Musk's huge spending on Texas Republicans backfired as Democrats swept the state's midterm races, a loss for Musk and a win for data-center opponents.

• Musk poured roughly $200 million into Texas races, hoping to keep friendly politicians in power who would approve his planned data centers there, but Democrats won anyway, including the governor's race.
• Several winning Democratic candidates nationwide, including new governors in Texas, Ohio, and Georgia, campaigned specifically against data-center construction, and at least 10 towns passed local measures restricting it.
• Musk's Tesla and SpaceX are based in Texas, so losing friendly state leadership makes it harder for him to push through data-center approvals there.
• Democratic leadership in Congress still faces internal criticism over corporate and AI-industry donations, including large contributions tied to tech and crypto executives, raising concerns the party may side with AI companies over data-center critics.
• Trump's political leverage is seen as weakened after the midterms, with Republicans in Congress less likely to follow him unconditionally.

Outlook: Expect continued local and state-level fights over data-center construction, with Musk's political influence weakened in Texas while Democratic infighting over corporate donors and AI policy heats up ahead of 2028.