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.

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.