Texas Residents Vote To Name Community Near SpaceX Launch Site Starbase
May 6, 2025
Elon Musk may have predicted his own future in 2021 when he tweeted, “Creating the city of Starbase, Texas.” Four years later, Starbase is a reality.
It’s all thanks to the support from Starbase residents—most of whom work for SpaceX—who voted on the new Texas city’s name. Now, Musk is making his mark in a city where he built his SpaceX company.
Musk praised the vote on his social media platform, X, saying “Starbase, Texas is now a real city!”
The name change comes after Cameron County residents voted in favor 212-6 to rename the community. Only 143 votes were needed to officially incorporate the city, which is located along the U.S./Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley.
The elections administrator said once the election results are recognized by a county judge, Starbase officially becomes a Texas municipality. The new city will be about 1.5 square miles.
The name change wasn’t always welcomed with open arms by everyone.
“SpaceX bullied us from the beginning,” Celia Johnson once told the Wall Street Journal in 2021. “SpaceX employees did what they wanted.”
Those comments were in response to Musk’s company scooping up properties near the rocket-launch facility.
SpaceX started facing off with several homeowners who didn’t want to sell their properties in the once-unincorporated village. The homes are very close to launches, putting people at risk. Residents said the company tried buying them out, but not everyone took the offer.
SpaceX has had the support from the state. When the company was putting down roots in Cameron County, the state earmarked nearly $30 million in incentives for SpaceX’s Boca Chica location. In 2013, state lawmakers passed legislations allowing Cameron County to temporarily close beach and beach-access points during spaceflight activity, according to the WSJ, but a state constitution is supposed to protect the public’s free and unrestricted access to beaches.
Cameron County officials have supported SpaceX but, at the time, it was locals who felt the county was working to get them out.
The initial SpaceX proposal in 2012 was to just build a launchpad in the area; but even that plan raised concerns with environmentalists, who said the proposed site is near endangered animals and other wildlife. The company has grown beyond a launchpad, and SpaceX has since bought out many residents.
Next for Starbase
With the vote to incorporate into a new municipality, some residents who have stayed (and do not work for SpaceX) are still bitter.
Homer Pompa, who has lived in the area for decades, didn’t vote in the election. He told the WSJ, “What would I vote for when I have ill feelings, when it’s something I didn’t want?” Pompa said. “I was here first.”
The Starbase town, at the very tip of Texas in Boca Chica, would span several properties near State Highway 4 and include nearly 250 lots with housing—only 10 are not owned by the company, reports the WSJ.
The May 3 election also ushered in three new people to run the town. All three SpaceX employees ran unopposed. The new and first mayor of Starbase is Bobby Peden, 36, who has spent more than 12 years working for Space X. Two commissioners were also elected, Jenna Petrzelka, 39, former operations engineering manager, and Jordan Buss, 40, senior director of environmental health and safety for SpaceX.
Source:Texas Residents Vote To Name Community Near SpaceX Launch Site Starbase
