Anti-AI populism: Guardian column calls AI the defining fight of 2028

Anti-AI populism is the next big force in American politics, freelance journalist Garrison Lovely argues in a Guardian column. He reads last week’s Democratic midterm win as a loss for the AI industry and says the future of US politics “will belong to whoever voters believe will bring the industry to heel.”

“AI will become the defining political fight of the 2028 cycle.”

— Garrison Lovely, The Guardian

Quote source: The Guardian, column by Garrison Lovely.

This is opinion from someone with a stake. Lovely wrote Obsolete, a book that argues the race to build AGI must stop, so read his numbers apart from his conclusion.

What the midterm numbers show

The evidence he cites comes from local votes, exit polls and ad counts:

• moratoriums and other data center limits passed in more than 30 localities across nine states;
• about 41% of planned data center capacity sits in states whose governors-elect back moratoriums;
• 23% of voters in NBC exit polls called AI and data centers “crucial” to their decision, and Democrats won them 67% to 30%;
• asked which party would do better on AI, 30% named Democrats, 27% Republicans and 43% neither;
• more than 130 federal and gubernatorial races featured tech accountability or AI in Democratic ads.

Lovely concedes the results “were not primarily about AI.” Corruption, the cost of living, Iran and immigration ranked higher in the same polls. TIME reports that Blue Rose Research placed AI 29th of 39 issues, though its salience rose more than any other issue in the past year. “It’s arguably the least important that it will ever be again,” the firm’s director, Ali Mortell, said.

The main AI industry super PAC spent big in one competitive race, by Lovely’s account, and lost it to Democrat Annie Andrews in South Carolina. Republicans lost all five Senate races where Elon Musk spent the most, and TIME puts his total at $446 million.

What Lovely wants from Democrats

He wants them to pass popular bills and dare Donald Trump to veto them:

• a ban on surveillance pricing and “bossware,” plus easier union organizing;
• strict liability for AI developers, and wage theft claims when workers’ output trains models that lead to layoffs;
• criminal liability when an AI does what would be a crime if a person did it;
• public hearings under subpoena for Sam Altman, Dario Amodei and Elon Musk.

Some in the party are already louder. Rep. Greg Casar, who chairs the Congressional Progressive Caucus, says “AI will be the number one issue in 2028.” He and Sen. Bernie Sanders back a bill that would pause AI development until a cabinet-level agency exists. Sen. Ed Markey told tech executives they “are going to need to plant new forests for all of the subpoenas we’ll be printing.”

The math against his plan

Democrats won’t pass this alone. A bill needs 60 Senate votes to clear the filibuster, then faces a possible veto, and TIME says they would need substantial Republican support. Lovely counts on Republicans with competitive races or White House ambitions, and on Sen. Josh Hawley, who already writes AI bills.

OpenAI plans a policy push that includes calling data centers “AI compute campuses,” and Meta is reportedly building a bipartisan team, TIME reports.

Chip stocks lost about $2 trillion after the vote, and CNBC says investors worried Democratic wins could affect data center construction. Lovely also notes the backlash grew with unemployment at 4%, and office workers are already quitting out of fear.

His 2028 call is a forecast from someone who wants that outcome. If you hold AI or data center stocks, you get an earlier test: whether Democrats use subpoenas once the new Congress sits in January.

A summary of an opinion column, with figures cited by its author and checked against TIME and CNBC on 9 November 2026. The views are Lovely’s. This is not investment advice.