Wall Street and AI stocks slide as voter pushback threatens data center growth

Wall Street experienced a sharp selloff Thursday as all three major stock indexes fell, driven by investor concerns that the artificial intelligence boom fueling U.S. economic growth may be losing momentum. The losses follow Tuesday's election results, where voters in Ohio, Georgia, and Texas elected governors who campaigned to temporarily halt new data center construction. According to Ballotpedia, voters supported greater restrictions on data center development in 46 of 47 ballot measures this year, from rural Florida to urban California. Economists at J.P. Morgan estimate AI-related investment has accounted for nearly a quarter of America's economic growth over the past year. The Trump administration is exploring building data centers on federal land in remote locations like North Dakota and Alaska, while Democratic lawmakers have proposed new restrictions that could face a presidential veto.