Colorado Gov. Jared Polis called for Tesla to make the state its new home, proposing the idea to Elon Musk in light of him threatening to move his company out of California.
Mr. Polis pitched his state Tuesday to Tesla’s co-founder and chief executive officer on Twitter after Mr. Musk recently suggested moving the carmaker’s operations to Texas or Nevada.
“We want you @elonmusk in Colorado, we are the best of all worlds,” Mr. Polis tweeted. “We’re very pro-business, low taxes, also pro immigration, pro-LGBT, globally minded.”
Mr. Polis, a Democrat, added in the tweet that Tesla should “look no further” than Colorado and tagged the CEO’s younger brother, who owns restaurants in Boulder and Denver.
Mr. Musk responded on Twitter minutes later, tweeting: “Hi Jared, Colorado is great! I think your policies make a lot of sense.”
Tesla’s future in California, where it has its headquarters and a factory, has been in doubt since Mr. Musk recently threatened to move over a dispute involving its plant in Fremont, south of San Francisco, and restrictions imposed as a result of the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
California Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat, ordered in March that nonessential businesses temporarily close under restrictions similar to ones imposed by most states soon afterward.
Tesla subsequently closed its Fremont plant to comply with the California stay-at-home order, notwithstanding Mr. Musk criticizing the restrictions as “horrible” and “fascist.”
Mr. Newsom has since let some businesses resume operations with modifications in place, but Alameda County has ordered Tesla to keep the Fremont plant closed, however.
Slamming the local order Saturday on Twitter, Mr. Musk said Tesla was filing a lawsuit against Alameda County and threatened to relocate both its factory and nearby headquarters.
“Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately,” Mr. Musk tweeted at the time. “If we even retain Fremont manufacturing activity at all, it will be dependen [sic] on how Tesla is treated in the future. Tesla is the last carmaker left in CA.”
Texas Gov. Greg Abbot, a Republican, said in a television interview Tuesday that he spoke to Mr. Musk over the weekend about his state potentially hosting Tesla’s headquarters.
“I’ve had the opportunity to talk to Elon Musk and he’s genuinely interested in Texas and genuinely frustrated with California,” Mr. Abbott told a local CBS affiliate. “We’ve just got to wait and see how things play out.”
More recently, Alameda County said in a statement late Tuesday that it held productive discussions with Tesla and that the factory in Fremont could reopen as soon as next week.
Tesla employed about 10,000 people at its plant in Fremont as of 2018. Its headquarters is located nearby in Palo Alto.
• Andrew Blake can be reached at ablake@washingtontimes.com.
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