Photo: Asa Mathat

Texas became the new home for the famous engineer and inventor, Elon Musk. He runs a number of important business operations for his companies there, invests in the region, and helps with donations, for which he became a Texan of the Year finalist.

While Elon Musk was born in South Africa, had Canadian citizenship, was educated at the University of Pennsylvania and lived in California for many years, that doesn't mean Texas can't call him an honorary Texan, The Dallas Morning News reports. This title was received for a reason, because the head of Tesla and SpaceX did and continues to do many important things for the state.

Musk has invested $1.1 billion for Tesla in its new plant in southeastern Travis County, near Austin. He also made Texas the hub of his aerospace and rocket company, SpaceX, which has several facilities throughout the state and a flagship launch pad in the south of the state, near Boca Chica.

Meanwhile, Musk has moved to Texas, moving the headquarters of Tesla, the Boring Company, and the Musk Foundation to Austin along the way. His Tesla Energy recently received a license to supply power in Texas and plans to build the first solar quarter in Austin to further expand its presence in the state. Furthermore, he plans to support the power grid to reduce the likelihood of disruptions that residents faced in February 2021 due to a winter storm.

All of this investment and job creation in Texas clearly made Musk the perfect candidate for the Texan of the Year title. But his overwhelming philanthropic efforts and charitable donations to worthy organizations in Texas and beyond—as well as to some of the most underserved local areas—earned him a finalist for the 2021 Texan of the Year competition.

In September, a SpaceX flight raised more than $200 million for childhood cancer research at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital in Tennessee, with Musk personally donating $50 million towards that goal. Earlier that year, Musk donated $20 million to Cameron County schools and $10 million to the City of Brownsville to rebuild the city center. This is in addition to a $1 million donation to Feeding Texas, a nonprofit that operates more than 20 food banks across the state that help feed more than 5 million Texans annually.

"That's the kind of generosity and neighborliness that Texans are famous for. And just one more reason why Elon Musk, who we hope continues to put down roots in Texas even as he reaches for the stars, is a finalist for Texan of the Year," wrote The Dallas Morning News.

#ElonMusk is a finalist for Texan of the Year! ♥️ 🇨🇱 Thank you Elon! https://t.co/jTIHaVvhJG pic.twitter.com/8JB54Z0nWU

— Mojo Susan ♥️ (@mojosusan) December 22, 2021

H/T @mojosusan/Twitter

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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter

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