Guinness brewery? Car factories? SpaceX? Ron DeSantis is in a manufacturing mood

Ron DeSantis. Image via AP.

Gov. Ron DeSantis is ready to expand Florida’s industrial base.

For starters, Florida’s chief executive acknowledges that SpaceX head Elon Musk has a “relationship” and “muscle memory” with Texas that drove Musk’s decision to relocate that business to the state. DeSantis nonetheless thinks Musk’s company can, and will, do more in the Sunshine State.

Florida, he said, is “not going to tax you to smithereens,” as the state “debt is low” and the state lacks “massive unfunded liabilities.”

In the present, “it’s attractive,” DeSantis said. “But from a medium- or long-term (perspective), I think it’s really, really attractive.”

“And so whether that means SpaceX headquarters, I don’t know, but I do know that we’ve continued to see companies that have come in various sizes,” DeSantis added, predicting increased manufacturing in the aerospace sector on the Space Coast.

DeSantis had entertained the possibility of X, the social media company, relocating to the Sunshine State last year, but cautioned that if that were to happen, he wouldn’t want Musk “bringing woke employees to Florida.”

The Governor also suggested Thursday that automobile fabrication could be part of the state’s future as well.

“I would love to see car manufacturing in Florida. You know, we’ve talked to some companies about it. It’s just never been anything that’s been done here, but I think there would be opportunities for that, which would be really, really exciting,” DeSantis said.

Beyond aircraft and cars, the Governor also thinks the Irish beer Guinness could be made in the state, by way of contextualizing economic development efforts during his trip to Dublin for the Florida State football season opener Friday.

“If you happen to have a little bit more space at this industrial park, if I could get them to put a Guinness factory in Florida, I mean, that would be really tough to pass up. I’m going to get to work on that,” DeSantis said Thursday at Titusville’s Valiant Air Command, Inc. Warbird Museum.

The Governor previously extolled the beer during last year’s controversy about Bud Light, in the wake of the company collaborating with a transgender influencer for a promotion. He said that while he supported the “righteous” boycott of the brand from “conservative beer drinkers,” the First Lady’s and his preferences were elsewhere.

“If we ever go out to just have a beer — which admittedly we don’t have the opportunity to do that like we used to, you know — we actually like the stout, Guinness,” DeSantis explained during an interview on “The Benny Show.”