How blue America became Texas' best friend when it comes to business

Companies are continuing their blue state exodus as they flee from Democratic business policies to the Republican state of Texas.

On Tuesday, equipment manufacturer Caterpillar, Inc., announced that it was moving its global headquarters from Deerfield, Ill., to Irving, Texas. The company has operated in Illinois for more than 110 years.

CEO and Chairman Jim Umpleby said the relocation is "in the best strategic interest of the company" and "supports Caterpillar's strategy for profitable growth as we help our customers build a better, more sustainable world."

Illinois Democrat Gov. J.B. Pritzker responded to the company's announcement by claiming his state "is on the rise" and that "we've built more small businesses than our big state counterparts like California, Texas, New York, and Florida."

In addition to Caterpillar, companies such as Tesla, Hewlett-Packard, Oracle, and Sovereign Flavors have moved their headquarters to Texas from California and other blue states over the past two years.

According to Chief Executive Magazine's "Best & Worst States for Business Survey of CEOs" in April, Texas is the best state for business, a ranking it has held since 2001. This is because of its lack of a corporate income tax, a fast-growing population, less regulations for businesses, and a diverse and skilled workforce.

Meanwhile, according to the survey, California is ranked as the worst state for business, while Illinois places just slightly above it at No. 48.

Illinois and California will each lose a congressional seat in the next Congress, as a result of the decreased population in those states, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. On the other hand, Texas will gain two additional congressional seats.

From July 2020 to July 2021, Texas had three of the five fastest-growing cities with populations of at least 50,000. The Lone Star State also added more jobs in the first quarter of 2022 than it had each year since 1990.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton told "Just the News, Not Noise" on Tuesday, "I think people are voting with their feet — they're escaping liberal states like Illinois and California and New York. Those states are losing population, we're gaining population because we create opportunity by having no state income tax, having low taxes in general, less regulation, and really an opportunity for anybody to succeed that wants to. And I think people that want that are choosing Texas and states like Texas."