How Democrats’ datacenter push in swing states is risking their midterm hopes

OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, Related Companies CEO, Brent Behrman, governor Gretchen Whitmer and Oracle CEO, Clay Magouyrk, during the groundbreaking for the Barn datacenter in Saline Township, Michigan on 1 June 2026. Photograph: Jacob Hamilton/Ann Arbor News/APView image in fullscreenOpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, Related Companies CEO, Brent Behrman, governor Gretchen Whitmer and Oracle CEO, Clay Magouyrk, during the groundbreaking for the Barn datacenter in Saline Township, Michigan on 1 June 2026. “I will never not appreciate who she was during that time.”Whitmer, who is term-limited having served eight years as governor, has characterized herself as a no-nonsense, “get-it-done” kind of politician.