PIMCO: Commentary on the AI investment boom and the US mid-term elections

PIMCO: Commentary on the AI investment boom and the US mid-term elections

November 2, 2026

Artificial Intelligence US Elections

Libby Cantrill, Head of Public Policy at PIMCO, discusses how all politics are local and why risks to the AI buildout are rooted in state and local elections rather than the more closely-watched mid-term race for U.S. Congress.

  • We do think there is a risk to the AI build out in terms of data centers, but not where a lot of folks think it may be coming from. It's not going to be from Washington, DC, at least over the next two years or so.
  • With President Trump still in the White House and ready to veto any legislation that may put the brakes on the AI build out, the real risks are going to be at the state level. That's because there are 36 governor races across the country taking place on November 3rd. There's thousands of local elections, and the politics around the data centers are just so bad.
  • Lots of these gubernatorial candidates in particular are running on a anti data center platform. They're advocating for a full moratorium. Whether that actually comes to bear sort of remains to be seen.
  • But what we do expect is there's going to be more friction in terms of the AI build out because of the politics, a higher cost of doing business. It also means for lenders like PIMCO, we're just being a lot more selective in terms of the deals that we are considering and we are really paying attention to the politics. Again, politics oftentimes leads policy. The policy we expect is going to be quite negative in terms of the data centers going forward.

Related posts