By Jason Murdock
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Senator Ted Cruz has welcomed Elon Musk after the Tesla and SpaceX boss confirmed that he had personally relocated to Texas.
The Republican politician tweeted on Tuesday that the state "loves jobs" and the public would be "very glad to have you as a Texan" after the billionaire tech CEO confirmed the move in an interview during The Wall Street Journal CEO Council summit.
While Musk said his companies continue to have "massive operations" in California, he noted he will be spending more time working on projects based in the Lone Star State, making good on a tease in May that he would be shifting his businesses amid a legal dispute with Alameda County officials over their COVID lockdown rules.
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"It's worth noting Tesla is the last car company still manufacturing cars in California," Musk said when asked about his frustrations with the state this year.
"SpaceX is the last aerospace company doing significant manufacturing in California. There used to be over a dozen car plants in California. And California used to be the center of aerospace manufacturing. My companies are the last two left... that's a very important point to make. For myself, yes, I have moved to Texas," he added.
The CEO indicated his main focus is overseeing development of the Starship spacecraft —a reusable transportation system that he says will eventually take humans to Mars— alongside a new Tesla factory development just outside of Austin.
During the interview on Tuesday, Musk used a sporting analogy to describe how he now feels about California, and its attitude towards his companies based there.
"If a team has been winning for too long they do tend to get a little complacent, a little entitled and then they don't win the championship anymore," he said. "California has been winning for a long time. I think they are taking it for granted a little bit."
He said the best approach the government should take for business is to "just get out of the way," and warned about a "gradual creep" of regulations and bureaucracy.
He said: "Regulations are immortal and if we keep making more every year and do not do something about removing them, eventually we will be able to do nothing."
Sen. Cruz previously attempted to convince the Tesla boss to move to his state in May after Musk proposed that he could move his business to Texas or Nevada.
"Come to Texas! We would welcome Tesla HQ in Texas. We love jobs & Texans very much want to open up & get back to work (while still staying safe & following sound science). We make lots of cars & trucks in Texas, and we'd love more!!" he said.
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