Unions may not be good for much, but in a somewhat surprising development, labor groups across the country are rallying behind new AI data centers as public opinion, and Democrats, who are typically unions’ most reliable political allies, mobilize against their construction. 

Construction and trade unions have begun warning that they will not support candidates who oppose data-center projects. Their reasoning is not complicated, the data-center buildout means thousands of high-paying jobs for electricians, pipe fitters, operating engineers, carpenters, and other skilled workers, along with an opportunity to train the next generation of tradesmen. 

In a rare moment of clarity, unions are discovering that the most reliable way to create better pay, more opportunity, and real progress for their members is not to limit employment, monopolize labor, or demand that the economy freeze in place. It is to embrace investment, innovation, and expansion, the very things organized labor has made its name trying to obstruct.

According to The Wall Street Journal the Steamfitters UA Local 602, whose members install mechanical piping systems throughout Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., has made support for data centers a political litmus test. The union has warned that candidates who oppose new facilities should not expect its endorsement, describing the data-center buildout as vital to the future of its members and the local itself. 

In Kansas, a union representing HVAC and railroad workers has also broken with its long-standing political habits by endorsing Republican state Sen. Ty Masterson for governor. The Democrat candidate’s opposition to data-center development was the main driver in that decision.The same story is unfolding more broadly in states across the country, including Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and New York. 

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As public opposition and Democrat pressure campaigns have grown, unions are increasingly finding themselves on the other side, backing the projects that are bound to do the most for their workers.

But this should serve as a warning to Republicans as well. Data centers are vastly unpopular, and swing-state Republicans have begun promising to crack down on their construction. That may be politically profitable in the short term, but it sets the country, and our party, up for failure in the long run.

The United States is going to build data centers whether we like it or not, because they are central to the country’s economic and technological future. The real question is where they will be built, which communities will benefit, and whether America will have the energy and infrastructure necessary to support them. Blocking projects does not just stop AI development; it merely ensures the investment, jobs, tax revenue, and technological advantage go somewhere else.

But for Republicans being pro-data center does not mean giving these companies a blank check. It means making intelligent decisions now about how facilities should be built, how they should pay for infrastructure, and how local communities can share in their benefits. Those decisions should be grounded in reality, not the misinformation and hysteria currently dominating the debate. 

Republicans have always been strongest when they have stood as the party of economic growth, private investment, and technological progress. They should not trade that inheritance for a few easy applause lines from people who would rather stop the future because Chinese propaganda and socialists said we should.

The union revolt should be a wake-up call. 

When even organized labor recognizes that data centers mean more jobs, higher wages, and renewed opportunity for skilled workers, Republicans should think twice before joining the anti-growth chorus. The party of economic progress should not allow short-term polling, anti-corporate populism, or a misinformation campaign amplified by socialists and foreign adversaries to turn it against the industries of the future. 

Data centers should be built responsibly, transparently, and with real benefits for the communities that host them. But they should be built. America did not become an economic superpower by treating every new piece of technology as a threat, and we should not intend to let that socialist inclination to define the next generation of our politics.