JD Vance flew to Middletown to stand in a steel plant and defend data centers. The Vice President of the United States showed up to explain why massive warehouses full of computers sucking down enough electricity to power Cleveland might not hand his party's Senate seat to the Democrats. Jon Husted nodded along. Republicans worried out loud that voters might notice their power bills climbing faster than a meme stock in January.
Data centers need electricity the way retail traders need bad ideas. Constantly. In obscene quantities. Without pause.
Ohio Republicans approved these things. Watched tech companies promise jobs and tax revenue. Signed the permits. Cut the ribbons. Now the grid screams for mercy and swing-state voters wonder why their AC costs more than their mortgage. Husted calls this sound energy policy. The kind of policy that makes you defend it at a steel plant with the VP as your emotional support politician.
Vance stood there like a man who just realized his homework is due. The same guy who spent months telling everyone he grew up in Ohio now has to explain why Ohio's electricity gets auctioned off to OpenAI's latest chatbot trained on stolen Reddit posts. Tough pitch. Harder when your Senate colleague's seat depends on convincing people that freezing in winter so AI can generate anime porn is actually economic development.
The steel plant made for good optics. Blue-collar backdrop. Real manufacturing. The kind of facility that uses electricity to make things people need instead of burning it to teach computers how to write bad poetry. Vance probably thought the symbolism would land. It did not.
Republicans built their entire brand on hating coastal elites. Then they gave those same elites the power grid. Voters get the bill. Politicians get the photo op. Data centers get to keep humming while Ohioans learn what rationing means. But sure, Jon. Sound policy. The Senate seat you're defending will agree in November.
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