Newsom praises ‘extraordinary’ Elon Musk despite Tesla headquarters move to Texas

OAKLAND – Gov. Gavin Newsom praised Elon Musk on Friday despite Tesla CEO announcing a day earlier that he plans to move his company headquarters from California to Texas, although the governor claimed that California had helped make the electric automaker what it is today.

“I have a deep reverence and respect for this individual,” Newsom said, “but I also have a deep reverence and a deep respect for the state and what we stand for and what we have done to support these. investments. “

The comments highlighted Newsom’s enduring ties to Musk and wider Silicon Valley, while also allowing the Democratic governor to tout California’s role as an innovation incubator. Newsom noted that he had known Musk for two decades and hailed him as “one of the greatest innovators and entrepreneurs in the world” who “invested untold amounts in this state to create thousands upon thousands of jobs. “.

Republicans were quick to seize on Musk’s plans to move to Texas on Thursday, saying it was further evidence California businesses were overburdened with regulations, taxes and high living costs. It comes after Hewlett Packard Enterprise and Oracle announced in December that they were moving to the Lone Star State.

Newsom downplayed the importance of Tesla’s seat change, noting that Musk had announced plans to increase production at a plant in California and that Musk’s commercial spaceflight company SpaceX was leasing office space in Long Beach. The governor also argued that California fueled Tesla’s success, highlighting the millions of dollars California spent to subsidize the nascent electric car industry.

“Our regulatory environment has helped create this business and grow this business,” Newsom said. “It took his ingenuity and entrepreneurial genius, but it also took a regulatory environment to encourage him here, to nurture him. “

The deeply Democratic California elected officials have a mixed relationship with Musk and the company he founded. Tesla’s role as the flagship of the low-emission vehicle market is a source of pride for the environmentally conscious state, and its plant in the town of Fremont in the Bay Area is a source of good manufacturing jobs. paid.

California also has a disproportionate share of the national electric vehicle market, accounting for 42% of electric vehicle registrations in the United States in 2020, when it only has about 12% of the population, according to federal data.

Tesla has spent more than $ 3 million lobbying the California legislature and state regulators since 2017, records show. In the last two election cycles, she funneled over $ 400,000 in campaign donations to California political action committees, and she distributed that money: In 2019-2020, the company’s money was invested in races for nearly half of the state’s legislative districts.

But California unions and their allies have also fought with Tesla over what they call unequal working conditions and efforts to suppress workers’ organization. Democrats in the state legislature have sought to tie state subsidies to stricter labor standards.

Last year, Tesla defied a public health order by opening its Fremont plant despite a stay-at-home warrant that Musk called “fascist.” Tesla ultimately brokered a deal with local authorities to defuse the stalemate, a deal that saw Tesla sue his home county and threaten to leave California.

These dynamics fueled the acrimony between Musk and the elect. State Assembly Member Lorena Gonzalez (D-San Diego), a staunch union ally who has criticized Tesla’s labor practices, responded to the Fremont plant dispute last year by tweeting “” F * ck Elon Musk “. Musk reported on Thursday this contributed to his decision to move – a response Newsom suggested was undeserved.

“I get tweets like this probably every hour,” Newsom said, “and I stay here.”