The push to bring the Amazon second headquarters to Texas has gone into high gear. Texas Senators Ted Cruz and John Cornyn, both Republicans, have sent a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos touting the virtues of the Lone Star State. Cruz and Cornyn are not the only public officials trying to sell their states as the site of the new headquarters, but they are the highest profile and, in some ways, the most powerful.

What did Cruz and Cornyn have to say?

According to the Hill, the two senators touted Texas’ pro-business culture of limited government and low taxes.

They wrote, “Everything is bigger in Texas, and that includes our economy, our skilled workforce, and our quality of life.” Among the possible Texas cities that could serve as the site of the new Amazon second headquarters were Houston, Dallas, Austin, and San Antonio.

How Texas attracts big and small businesses

Texas has always been quite aggressive when trying to attract businesses to locate in the state, especially if they reside in high tax, high regulation states. When the now Energy Secretary Rick Perry was still governor of Texas, he would regularly travel to blue states such as California, New York, and Illinois to rustle businesses that might be willing to relocate. Besides the pro-business culture touted by Cruz and Cornyn Texas has proven to be more than willing to offer breaks and special deals for large enterprises as enticements.

The successful campaign to have SpaceX build a spaceport near Brownsville is a case in point.

One can look for Governor Greg Abbott and a bevy of state and local Texas politicians to join in on a full-bore push to persuade Jeff Bezos to sink $5 billion into a second headquarters in the Lone Star State. Bezos will be in the comfortable position of pretty much asking for anything he wants to get him to come to Texas.

Since he already runs a test launch facility for his rocket company, Blue Origin, in the state, the Amazon CEO is familiar with doing business in Texas.

Of course, Texas has plenty of competition, with every other state of the union with large enough cities vying for the bragging rights and the economic stimulus of the second Amazon headquarters.

The company boasts that it will bring with it 50,000 jobs to the lucky winner of the competition.

Still, Texas has an edge, as Cruz and Cornyn notes, and can enhance its advantages by putting in more infrastructure. An approval of the Texas Hyperloop line, along with the Port of Houston and Texas’ proximity to Latin America, could go a long way to bringing Amazon to the Lone Star State.
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