Elon Musk has already poured nearly $190 million into Texas’ US Senate race. Now his rocket company SpaceX may be trying to buy a piece of the Texas coast.
The Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission had been discussing the sale of Boca Chica State Park, the 1,300-acre beachfront park next to SpaceX’s Starbase launch site near Brownsville, Texas Monthly reported Friday. Two sources told the magazine that SpaceX is the prospective buyer.
The report landed in the middle of a Senate race that Musk is bankrolling on behalf of Republican Ken Paxton, and Democrat James Talarico seized on it.
“Elon Musk is trying to buy this Senate seat in Texas, and he’s also trying to buy one of our beloved state parks, and this is unacceptable,” Talarico told Courier Texas Sunday night backstage at his final campaign kickoff in Plano. “Texas is not for sale.”
He would repeat the latter point from stage.
According to Texas Monthly, the commission planned to take up the sale of “1,300 acres” in Cameron County in a closed-door executive session at its Nov. 5 meeting, two days after the election, according to a draft agenda.
After the magazine asked about the meeting and SpaceX’s role, a Texas Parks and Wildlife spokesperson said the commission “is not considering the sale of the Boca Chica property at its November meeting.” The agency didn’t answer follow-up questions about whether discussions had taken place or whether the item had been shelved. Sources told the magazine the commission, whose nine members were all appointed by Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, could take it up at a later date.
Asked today by the Houston Chronicle whether or not the sale was being considered, Abbott declined to answer. In a piece from the outlet published Fri., Oct. 16 titled “Why Elon Musk has so much at stake in Greg Abbott’s reelection bid,” they report Abbott signed off on nearly $1.7 billion in tax breaks for Musk’s Terafab project—more than half of the $2.2 billion awarded through the Jobs, Energy, Technology and Innovation program since its creation in 2023, and that Musk had donated $500,000 to Abbott’s campaign in May.
Texas Parks and Wildlife bought the land in 1994 from The Nature Conservancy. The park is home to endangered species, including the ocelot.
“It stinks,” Luke Metzger, executive director of the advocacy group Environment Texas, told Texas Monthly. “It looks really bad.”
State and federal officials have repeatedly made room for SpaceX at Boca Chica. Last year, lawmakers gave the city of Starbase, created by Musk’s employees, partial control over access to the area’s public beaches. This summer, the US Fish and Wildlife Service approved a plan to give SpaceX 715 acres of the neighboring national wildlife refuge in exchange for land elsewhere along the coast. SpaceX has also asked the Federal Aviation Administration to increase its permitted launches at the site from 25 a year to 456.
Talarico’s message to Musk: ‘Texas is not for sale’
The report gave Talarico a fresh line of attack against Musk, who has given about $158 million to the Senate GOP’s main super PAC, which has used the money to flood Texas with ads backing Paxton.
“The world’s first trillionaire may think he’s entitled to our land, to our water, to his own personal US senator, but he’s not,” Talarico told Courier Texas. “And we’re going to send that very clear message to Elon Musk on November 3rd that our state is not for sale, and we’re gonna win this race in Texas despite his big money.”
At the packed rally Sunday night—the first stop of his campaign’s “Clear Eyes, Full Hearts” Tour—Talarico made the same case to supporters.
“In all likelihood, if you’ve seen an attack ad on your TV, that was Elon. If you’ve gotten lies in your mailbox, that was Elon,” he said. “Our movement is funded by 1.3 million individuals who have donated to our campaign. Ken Paxton is funded by one dude.”
“He is trying to buy Texas,” Talarico said. “But on November 3rd, we’re gonna send a clear message to the world’s first trillionaire: Texas is not for sale.”
Musk’s support for Republicans extends beyond the Senate race. His super PAC is also instructing canvassers to attack Democrat Gina Hinojosa, Abbott’s Democratic opponent, over her record on transgender issues, The New York Times reported.
Early voting begins today, Oct. 19. Election Day is Nov. 3.
