More than 200 companies flocked to Texas in the last seven years, as Republicans in charge of the Lone Star state advertised a business-friendly aura with lucrative corporate tax incentives.
On Wednesday morning, though, the CEOs of those companies woke up to an unprecedented blue wave whose crests reached deep into Texas, from the Rio Grande Valley to Dallas.
Democratic challenger Gina Hinojosa, a state representative with a minimal national profile, defeated Gov. Greg Abbott, a prominent Republican running for a fourth term.
Hinojosa has signaled that she favors rolling back some of the incentives that lured businesses to the state.
“I do think we should wipe clean corporate welfare in this state,” she said in an October interview with Kut News, a Texas NPR affiliate.
On the national stage, Republican Senate candidate and Attorney General Ken Paxton suffered a stunning loss to James Talerico, another state representative, by more than a million votes.
The GOP managed to hold onto the state senate, but results were still being tabulated on Wednesday for a handful of competitive state house seats, according to the Associated Press.
While Hinojosa and Talerico gleefully bumped drinks at Whataburger on Tuesday night, business leaders were no doubt busy contemplating whether the economic incentives that motivated their move would stay in place.
“I never expected Texas to turn blue,” Jason Calacanis, a tech entrepreneur and influencer, said on X. “I moved here to get away from the left lunacy!”
Texas levies no income taxes on private individuals or corporations. Though the state charges a franchise tax on companies that post more than $1 million in revenue, Abbott has signed bills expanding franchise tax exemptions. During her campaign, Hinojosa focused her criticism of tax incentives on data centers.
Here are some of the largest companies that moved their operations to Texas in recent years, according to a list compiled by Abbott’s office.
- SpaceX
- Samsung Electronics America
- Six Flags Entertainment Corporation
- Devon Energy
- KFC Corporation
- Realtor.com
- Chevron
- Gordon Ramsay North America
- Lion Real Estate Group
- QSAM Biosciences Inc.
- Tesla
- X
- AESOM (Architecture, Engineering, Consulting, Operations, and Management)
- Charles Schwab
- Joe Rogan Experience
- European Wax Center
- Pabst Brewing Company
- Optym
- Oracle
- Cicero Institute
- 8VC
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