This graph shows how data centers fared in recent elections.
Left of the line is failure. It’s 45-1 against data centers. Yet BAAJA, the Bipartisan American Affordability and Jobs Act of 2026, is probably going to be brought to the Senate floor in the lame duck session, and this:
This group has a document detailing all the things that are wrong with BAAJA. The fact that the first word in it is “bipartisan” should be the clue. Schumer is trying to push this through in the lame duck to please his donors, as is his habit.
So this brings up whether the newly elected Democrats are going to vote for him as majority leader:
Peggy Flanagan is a hard no. I spent a little time yesterday watching her stump speeches, and she’s really good.
AES is a no, I think. Kay can correct us on that.
Adam Hamilton is a no, but it might be because Schumer blocked the farm bill. This guy is, by necessity, going to be a blue dog.
Troy Jackson is a no, unsurprisingly after Schumer’s interventions in Maine.
Annie Andrews just announced that she won’t support Schumer.
That all said, Chris Van Hollen is not running for Majority Leader. So one of the Senators who showed that he has some grit is not going to take on Chuck.
There is zero political damage that will be incurred from not passing BAAJA, because we’ve already overbuilt data centers.
Sepideh put this video of AES talking about omnibus bills in the comments yesterday, and this guy gets it. Listen to the whole thing to get his comment on those bills.
If you don’t like watching videos, the net of his comments were that big omnibus bills are dumb and that bills like the “Crap Lettuce Act” to make sure the FDA actually regulates our food supply are good policy and good politics (as Joe would say).
The big issue with Jeffries and Schumer is they came up in a generation of Democrats where the conventional wisdom was that the smart thing for Congress to do was to bundle together everything in big multi-thousand page omnibus bills where nobody could determine who was responsible for what. Those days are over. The new generation of legislators want to do good things and make a lot of noise about the good things they do. Mamdani is a great example of this, and he has a 69% approval rating. Blog hero Presidenta Claudia Sheinbaum-Pardo’s approval ratings hover around that number because she delivers. The new Senators and House members from marginal districts need to deliver to keep their seats.
The voters sent a message on Tuesday: no more business as usual. Schumer and Jeffries want business as usual. They need to go.
