Elon Musk’s Starbase takes off as SpaceX city wins vote to rename Boca Chica

Voters in South Texas in the US delivered Elon Musk a decisive victory, overwhelmingly approving a ballot measure to establish Starbase, Texas, as its own city.

By a margin of 212 to six, residents of the far-flung community surrounding SpaceX’s rocket-launch site and headquarters voted resoundingly in favour of the incorporation effort, according to results posted on the county election website.

At the same time, voters also approved the city’s first elected officials – all three of whom are current or former SpaceX employees and ran unopposed.

Virtually all of the inhabitants within the 3.8-sq km (1.45-square mile) territory are Musk’s employees at the massive manufacturing facility that dominates the beachfront town, or their family members.

Musk celebrated in a post on his social platform, X, saying it was “now a real city!”.

Incorporation is not a free pass for Musk to adopt any and all regulations he wishes, but it will give the company unique authority to set the pace of its own development in the area.