Friday, April 1, 2022

'Purely for survival:' Musk to donate Gigafactory site for use as Travis GOP field office

Travis County Republicans may have worked out of a spacious suite on the west side of Austin during the last election cycle, but 2022 is shaping up to be the year of a bold East Austin strategy in a much bigger space.

We're talking way bigger.

This is thanks to billionaire Elon Musk's spurious offer for the county GOP to rent the interior of the new Tesla Gigafactory as 2022 elections field office -- yep, all 3.3 square miles of it, including Cybertruck truck beds after hours if meetings or county conventions go long. All for $1 a month through the election: the cost of about a third of a breakfast taco downtown.

The Gigafactory, to be temporarily rebranded as the Travis GOP Tera-Office, will be located off Toll 130 in what may as well be Bastrop if it wasn't for the taxes and regulatory hurdles. I mean, if you hit the toll road for 20 minutes you're practically in Belton. Head a little south and you're in for some serious barbecue. But it's still technically in Travis County and the Austin metro area.