Last Tuesday, November 3, Donald Trump looked wolf-eared with his midterms. The US polls have spoken and shown two things: a shift toward the Democratic Party and a resounding no in data centers after at least 40 local referendums. But there’s always one exception that proves the rule: Harwood. In that North Dakota municipality of just 940 residents, they voted against a rule that would have given their neighbors more control over data centers and other large-scale projects.
More control? no thanks. Let’s get one thing straight: There’s a $3 billion data center Applied Digital is setting up, something not voted for, Polaris Forge 2, which is leased to Oracle and will have 280 megawatts of capacity when operational. What was decided was a rule for future projects above a certain size to require independent evaluation and public hearings.
Specifically, the result was 325 “no” to 105 “yes,” and according to Harwood Mayor Blake Hankey, the text was confusing and the measure was expensive for such a small town, Business Insider reports.
Neighbor dispute. No one likes having a mass of concrete in front of them, or their utility bill going up, much less infrasound that can’t be seen but felt. Obviously this is a large facility that directly and indirectly involves employment and consumption, but one of the reasons that tipped the balance in an unusual way (based on the rest of the question) is its friction with Fargo residents.
In August 2025, Fargo (which is much larger with 136,000 residents) attempted to annex about 800 acres (about 324 hectares) north of the city. That area included the under-construction Applied Digital data center site that Harwood had just approved. Both Harwood and the company objected. For the mayor of Harwood, it was an effort to keep related taxes, for the mayor of Fargo it was a business opportunity for roads, water and other infrastructure. Finally, Fargo withdrew from the merger in December.
Opacity and secrecy. But as we’ve seen in the consultation results, not everyone is in favor of big projects having the red carpet to go ahead in Harwood. Without going any further, neighbor Mike Swartz explained to Business Insider that the approval of the Applied Digital Data Center project was so fast that there was no time to react: he mentioned 21 days between the announcement and the start of work, although the local press dates are about four weeks. Anyway, very quickly.
The mayor came to explain that he did it for a good reason: According to him, he signed a confidentiality agreement with Applied Digital to prevent the project from going to Fargo, which would have left the city without that tax revenue. As for Applied Digital, it has assured that the project will not increase the rates of other users and that the water demand is equal to two houses. Obviously, this is the most interested party.
Why is it important?. In the United States, social support for such benefits collapsed in just one year. By the numbers: According to Heatmap Pro, 71% of Americans today oppose having a data center nearby, and support drops from 43% to 21% in September 2025. A Gallup poll from May provided similar results: In May of this year, 70% of Americans surveyed said no, compared to 47% by the end of 2025.
And it’s getting noticed: According to Heatmap, local opposition has managed to cancel more than $260 billion worth of projects. Among the reasons for refusal are fear of overpaying electricity and water bills or lack of transparency. One thing is clear: data centers are real energy guzzlers: Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory estimates that data centers consumed 4.4% of US electricity in 2023 and could reach 6.7% and 12% in 2028. And according to a Fortune survey, a large portion of the public (59%) believes that this overspending will increase their bills.
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