Texas And Florida Rocket Toward Faceoff Over Nasa Hq

Texas and Florida shine as two of the brightest stars in the conservative universe. But the two are on a collision course as they eye one possible prize of the Trump administration’s cost-cutting blitz: The next location of NASA’s new headquarters.

The space agency’s Washington lease expires in 2028. And a move to the Lone Star or Sunshine State would not only require NASA employees to relocate, but potentially transform how the agency operates and what its priorities should be.

Their battle also serves as a proxy war for a broader struggle to claim conservative supremacy among the states through policy moves and symbolic signs of loyalty to the Trump administration.

The ruby-red states’ governors are already fueling their nascent campaigns. Texas Gov. Greg Abbott “strongly supports moving NASA to Texas,” wrote Abbott’s press secretary, Andrew Mahaleris, in a Feb. 18 email to POLITICO. “Texas will be the launchpad for Mars and the future of space exploration.”

The statement made no mention of the NASA’s current plans for a moon landing ahead of a mission to Mars — a possible nod to Elon Musk, the powerful Trump ally and space billionaire who has advocated a Mars-first approach. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, meanwhile, has been pushing since January for NASA to “scrap” the “big vacant building” in Washington and move its headquarters to the Space Coast.

“There's already renovations going on [at the Kennedy Space Center], they're already expanding, you can fit people right in there,” he said in a press conference last week.

He also argued that it would “save about a billion dollars. “I know the people at Kennedy, they want to have this, right? They want to have it there.”

While the agency said in November that it was seeking a new headquarters ahead of its lease expiring in August 2028, its search has been focused on the Washington area.

Trump’s NASA transition team, though, has reportedly considered the idea of moving NASA to one of the agency’s centers across the country. Greg Autry, reportedly a member of the NASA transition team, declined to comment.

And while such a move might have once been considered politically unappealing, the federal government is now encouraging any moves that could lead to cheaper rents.

A memo sent Wednesday from the Office of Management and Budget and the Office of Personnel Management instructed agencies to consider relocating offices from Washington to cheaper states.

The memo also tells agencies to submit plans for trimming staff — which could occur naturally if DC-based staff refuse to move to Texas or Florida.

Moving to Texas, home to NASA’s human space flight operations, could suggest the agency was making human space flight a priority. Moving the headquarters to Florida, closer to where many commercial rocket launches occur, might indicate a greater focus on supporting the growing commercial space industry.

The Texas case

Abbott can count on support from two key state congressional voices: Sen. Ted Cruz and Rep. Brian Babin, the respective Senate and House chairs of panels that oversee NASA.

“That’d be a conversation I’d be very happy to have,” Cruz said about moving agency HQ to Texas, speaking to reporters at the Commercial Space Federation’s conference in Washington in February.

“I wouldn’t be against that,” Babin said at the same conference. NASA maintains the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

Houston helped run the U.S.’s landings on the moon in the 1960s and 1970s, its reputation immortalized in astronaut Neil Armstrong’s first words back to Earth from the moon: “Houston, Tranquility Base here. The Eagle has landed.” The center remains focused on human space flight, employing more than 12,000 NASA staffers.

Musk might also use his influence to favor Texas. Musk’s car company, Tesla, is headquartered in Texas. Musk is also moving SpaceX headquarters to Texas, where the company has a substantial presence at its Starbase facility.

Musk may even soon have his own town in the state — the company is seeking to incorporate theland Starbase sits on, with SpaceX's security manager currently the only candidate for mayor.

The Florida case

DeSantis can also count on his congressional delegation for support for Florida’s efforts, including Sen. Ashley Moody, Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.), and Rep. Mike Haridopolos (R-Fla.).

Moody is the most recent voice to join the coalition of Floridia Republicans hoping to sway NASA.

“The move would save taxpayers money, encourage collaboration with private space companies, and tap into Florida’s talented workforce in the aerospace industry to spur further innovation,” she wrote on X earlier this week.

In January, Luna addressed a letter to Trump to persuade NASA to move its headquarters to Florida’s Space Coast, a region that includes Kennedy Space Center and private space company facilities for SpaceX and Blue Origin.

Haridopolos, the new head of the House subcommittee on space, has also backed a move to Kennedy.

“I’d love to see the headquarters in Florida,” he said at the Commercial Space Federation conference.

Kennedy, like Johnson, has played an outsize part in NASA history: It’s the site where Armstrong and the other astronauts launched the first-ever trip to the moon. The center continues to be a key site for NASA space launches, as well as for the growing commercial space launch industry.

Space Florida, an authority on the state’s aerospace finance and development, has also pitched in, saying that moving the headquarters to Florida would grant NASA “the unique opportunity for an historic break from the bureaucratic hivemind of D.C. and the ability to evolve with the agility needed to meet the demands of today’s aerospace science, research, and test ecosystem.”

And, if housing for NASA staff is of any concern, Space Florida says the state is ready to receive them. “We are that nimble,” it wrote.

The odds

Florida may want NASA headquarters — but Texas’ ego as the historic center of crewed space flight is at stake, said one space industry insider, granted anonymity to discuss the mooted move.

Texas is also in a strong position due to its well-funded space commission, which operates with a $350 million budget. An analogous Florida government body has an operations budget of $17.5 million.

On the other, President Donald Trump calls Florida home, a factor that may influence his choice. Florida also has recent experience in winning bids for government space agency headquarters. U.S. Space Force selected the state in 2023 to host its training headquarters, Space Training and Readiness Command.

Still, the space industry insider cautioned any win might be a wasted effort if a Democrat takes the White House in 2028 and decides to move NASA headquarters right back to Washington.

“It'd be like a Space Command, right?” he said. “Trump sent it to Huntsville, Biden moved it to Colorado, and now Trump is bringing it back.”