Donald Trump just joined forces with Democrat governors in a shocking bipartisan move against rapid AI expansion

The Trump administration has joined forces with prominent Democratic governors to pressure a major regional power grid operator, as per The Hill, signaling a significant shift in how the White House views the rapid expansion of AI infrastructure. President Trump’s administration teamed up with Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro (D), Maryland Governor Wes Moore (D), and then-Virginia Governor Glenn Youngkin (R) to address the soaring electricity costs linked to power-hungry AI data centers.

This bipartisan coalition is urging PJM, the grid operator serving large sections of the East Coast and Midwest, to fundamentally change how it operates. The core demand is straightforward: unless data centers bring their own power sources, they should be forced to pay substantially more for new grid connections than residential households do.

A senior White House official confirmed the administration’s new position, stating that while the country will “embrace data centers,” it won’t be “at the price … of raising costs for consumers.” The official went on to say that the large cloud services providers, known as hyperscalers, absolutely must handle their own power generation. “That’s certainly what the president feels as well, that they should have their own generation,” the official added.

The administration’s shift is clearly a response to growing political liability

Local opposition to data centers has exploded over the past year, fueled by concerns over high electricity prices, excessive water usage, and environmental pollution. Data Center Watch, an organization tracking this local opposition, found that between late March and June 2025, 20 data center projects, totaling about $98 billion, were either blocked or significantly delayed.

This intense backlash prompted President Trump to clarify his position publicly just before the PJM announcement. He posted on Truth Social that while Data Centers are “key to that boom,” the big technology companies that build them must “‘pay their own way.'”

It’s definitely working, because major tech companies are quickly scrambling to echo the president’s language. Microsoft announced a new “community first” AI infrastructure plan, making a commitment to “pay our own way” to ensure their data centers don’t raise consumer electricity bills. OpenAI made similar commitments for its ambitious Stargate project, describing the effort as a “partnership with communities” and promising to be “good neighbors.”

This entire issue is becoming a serious headache ahead of the midterm elections. While the administration has limited direct authority over power markets, experts say they are effectively using the “bully pulpit” to force change.

Democrats are embracing the resistance, with Senator Chris Van Hollen (D-Md.) introducing legislation that aims to limit impacts on consumer costs by requiring data centers to pay for necessary transmission upgrades. As he put it, the principle is simple: “the huge corporations building and running data centers should cover the costs of the energy they need, not push those costs onto the backs of consumers.”

Republicans, who have largely supported the AI boom, are now facing a tough messaging challenge. As Republican strategist Christopher Johnson noted, explaining the complexities of electricity rates is probably a “fool’s errand, because if you’re explaining, you’re losing.”