Boy, howdy, is Texas ever having an interesting year. They are the location of one of the midterm election's highest-profile Senate races, with Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton squaring off against Democratic contender James Talarico, who appears to have the testosterone level of arugula and who thinks running a vegan campaign in a state renowned (rightly) for its barbecue beef brisket is a great strategy. There's another exciting thing happening right now, if you're a Texas businessman: The Lone Star State is also undergoing quite the business boom.
That last part isn't exactly new. Texas has been the recipient of one of the more interesting trends of the Great Sorting, that being the flight of major corporations from blue states to red ones.
Texas has emerged as the biggest winner in corporate America’s flight from high-tax blue states, attracting a wave of headquarters relocations as companies increasingly abandon costly coastal hubs for lower-tax Republican strongholds.
The relocation wave is reshaping the balance of economic power in America, boosting red-state economies while raising fresh questions about whether high taxes and regulation are driving companies out of blue-state strongholds.
Dallas-Fort Worth led the nation with 111 headquarters relocations between 2018 and 2025, according to a (Coldwell Banker Richard Ellis) CBRE report, while Austin added 88 and Houston gained 31. Together, the three Texas hubs have become one of the nation’s biggest magnets for corporate relocations.
Florida's also on the winning side of this, and the big loser? The impeccably coiffed Gavin Newsom's California.
CBRE found 725 companies relocated headquarters during that seven-year period, with many citing growth opportunities, lower operating costs and lighter regulation as key reasons for moving.
Florida, particularly Miami, also emerged as a major beneficiary. Over the past year alone, six companies moved operations to Miami from costly hubs like Los Angeles, the Bay Area and Boston, drawn by Florida’s lower taxes, growing tech sector and access to East Coast markets.
Companies told CBRE that Miami’s expanding startup scene and growing pool of finance and tech talent are making the city increasingly attractive. International firms are also flocking to South Florida for its strong tourism, travel and beauty industries.
Meanwhile, California suffered the nation’s steepest corporate losses.
Is there even one Democrat out there who, looking at this data, might have a sudden and unexpected rush of brains to the head and say to his or her fellow Dems, "Hey, guys, have you noticed this?"
Let's Go: Ken Paxton Opens General Election Campaign With a Not-So-Gentle Message for James Talarico
If we consult our Magic 8-Ball on this, it comes up "Signs Point to No."
Look, this is, as pointed out, all part of the Great Sorting, and the red-state folks should be glad of it - and I bet the more business and economically-savvy among them are. There's always the concern that some of the people moving from blue to red may take some of their liberal voting habits with them, but one has to think that at least a strong plurality of them are fully aware of who made their old homes so intolerant to any business from major oil companies down to neighborhood lemonade stands. In Texas, it certainly can't hurt that their Senate race is likely to drive conservative voters to the polls, if for no other reason than to vote against a Democrat candidate who manages to be less manly than Pee Wee Herman.
Any future Republican majorities may well owe as much to this part of the Great Sorting as to the GOP's ongoing redistricting efforts. This trend can't go denied or ignored by the left forever, but Democrats and the far left (but I repeat myself) in this election cycle seem more concerned with keeping boys on girls' high school track teams and defunding ICE than doing anything for the economy.
And so, the Great Sorting moves into another phase. In California, there are signs that there may be a seismic shift in the politics of the once-Golden state, where their governor's race has Republican Steve Hilton breathing down Democrat Xavier Becerra's neck. Gavin Newsom will, of course, never get it; if there was any capacity in the man for changing his mind, we would have seen it by now. The man has all the mental agility of an Easter Island statue, while lacking the rugged profile.
But California voters? The voters who are seeing major employers fleeing California for Texas and Florida? That, we can hope, may be a different story.
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