Democrats who won the US midterm elections have pledged sweeping congressional investigations and regulatory crackdowns on rapid AI development and data center expansion, warning Silicon Valley executives including Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos and Mark Zuckerberg may face scrutiny from a newly empowered Democratic Senate. Senator Ed Markey of Massachusetts said on November 4 in a post on X, “They are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing.” Georgia Senator Jon Ossoff said in his victory speech, “Big tech must be brought to heel.” Texas Representative Greg Casar said AI company CEOs should be called to testify under oath and that Congress should investigate how these companies are putting the jobs, freedom, and lives of Americans at risk. As per a Bloomberg report published in October, letters instructing executives to preserve corporate records for upcoming investigations have been formally dispatched to chipmaker Nvidia and tech giant Amazon. The Guardian reports incoming Democratic governors in key states have vowed to stall the AI industry’s data center build-out: Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa pledged a moratorium on new hyperscale data center projects, Ohio Governor-elect Amy Acton campaigned on pauses on facility approvals, and Georgia Governor-elect Keisha Lance Bottoms committed to