The Tech Oversight Project has a closing argument for Democrats heading into the midterm elections, and it's aimed squarely at the server farms powering the AI boom: voters are picking up the tab while Big Tech picks up tax breaks.

In a memo shared first with The Hill, the watchdog group laid out the household-bill costs of data centers, arguing that Americans are paying more while major tech companies rake in federal and state subsidies. "Across the country, Big Tech companies have claimed billions in federal and state subsidies to build their deeply unpopular data centers - and left taxpayers holding the bill," wrote Sacha Haworth, founder and executive director of the Tech Oversight Project, in the memo released Monday.

Data centers have become an increasingly potent midterm issue as voters sour on the rapid buildout of facilities needed to feed the AI boom. The Tech Oversight Project noted that Republicans are already feeling the heat - Sen. Jon Husted (R-Ohio) among them. In August, the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) called data centers "the anchor hanging around Husted's neck," warning that "politicians across the country will take notice" if the issue costs him the election.

Democrats, meanwhile, have increasingly treated data centers as a cudgel on cost-of-living and corruption concerns. "This message rightly points out the pay-to-play attitude the Republican Party has toward Big Tech," Haworth wrote. "But that doesn't solve the cost-of-living crisis Americans are living through; voters demand solutions."

Meanwhile, in other tech-policy news, a major cryptocurrency super PAC is backing candidates in 32 House races with one month until the midterms. Fairshake is throwing its weight behind 13 Democrats and 19 Republicans, spokesperson Geoff Vetter confirmed to The Hill on Monday. The super PAC is spending $1 million each on six candidates - Reps. Janelle Bynum (D-Ore.), Steven Horsford (D-Nev.), Derek Tran (D-Calif.), French Hill (R-Ark.), Bill Huizenga and others.

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) on Sunday backed Pope Leo XIV's call to prioritize human-made art over AI-generated art. "Pope Leo is right. Art is not some kind of superfluous luxury that can be eliminated from our lives. It is a crucial part of the human experience," Sanders wrote on X. "We cannot let Big Tech oligarchs destroy it," he added.

The Supreme Court on Monday declined to reinstate a former Pennsylvania judge suspended for partisan Facebook posts, a dispute touching on free speech and judicial ethics. Pennsylvania's judicial discipline board suspended then-Judge Mark Cohen in 2024 over dozens of posts praising Democrats, including former President Biden and Gov. Josh Shapiro (D), and his advocacy.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) unveiled new proposals Monday for regulating cryptocurrency markets after an effort to pass digital asset legislation through Congress fell short last month. The agency, one of two main financial regulators expected to oversee the industry, gave notice of its plans to move forward with rulemaking on both crypto asset transactions and markets. The new rules would clarify how existing commodities law applies to digital asset transactions and establish a new type of exchange - called crypto asset markets - that can register with the CFTC solely for trading such assets. These exchanges would specifically handle retail crypto transactions traded on a margined, leveraged or financed basis. CFTC Chair Michael Selig underscored Monday in prepared remarks at Fordham Law School that this creates a "federal option for crypto asset exchanges" but does not require all to register with the agency.

And in a reminder that data centers remain a live political fight: Senate Democrats blocked Sen. Jon Husted's data center bill, with Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer calling it "toothless." Husted, R-Ohio, joined "NewsNation Prime" to respond to the criticism and make his case on lowering energy prices ahead of the midterms.