Axios · US Congress · US Senate · Axios
Flock cameras join data centers as a top AI boogeyman in 2026 midterms
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Flock cameras are joining data centers as a top midterm boogeyman, with members of Congress and congressional candidates trying to harness a sudden groundswell of grassroots anger over the AI surveillance tool.
Key facts
- Abdul El-Sayed, the Democratic nominee for Senate in Michigan, posted a video to X Wednesday tying his Republican opponent, former Rep
- Democratic House candidates are getting in on the Flock camera blowback
- The Flock camera backlash is converging with the already prominent data center discourse to make AI one of the most potent issues on the campaign trail
- Flock cameras are emerging as a rare area of bipartisan agreement on Capitol Hill, with conservatives and progressives in particular speaking out on the issue in recent weeks
Summary
This blowup over the country's massive network of license plate readers illustrates how rapidly AI has morphed from a peripheral issue in national politics toward the center of the midterm campaign. Data centers have become a major issue in the midterms, with candidates racing to one-up each other in their opposition to building the energy-hungry facilities. Super PACs affiliated with AI companies have also spent tens of millions of dollars clashing with each other in congressional elections over the degree to which the federal government should regulate the technology. Now, surveillance cameras are opening a new front in the debate over AI.