“They told us, ‘You’re one of quite a few locations we’re looking at,’” Salinas said.

Salinas said he concluded the project would transform the region.

Hiring Lobbyists

“It made me want the project,” Salinas said. “I thought, ‘If we’re not going to go all out for this project, which one will we go all out for?’”

In downtown Brownsville, 350 miles (560 kilometers) south of Austin, aging buildings and small homes share the landscape with shaggy palm trees and oxbow lakes. The area has the lowest median household income of any metropolitan area in U.S. states, about $32,000, compared with a national average of about $53,000, according to the Census Bureau.

Economic development officials began selling the project to skeptical residents, said Salinas. At one meeting with residents to discuss the project, Salinas was mocked as Buzz Lightyear, after the character in “Toy Story” who thinks he’s a real astronaut.

Buying Land

The company started buying undeveloped land at the proposed site, a sandy prairie with grass and an occasional cactus.

SpaceX increased spending for lobbying. The company had one lobbyist starting in November 2011. By the end of 2012, it was paying five between $95,000 and $200,000 in aggregate, according to state records, which require that the company report only a range of expenditures.

Company lobbyists and lawyers opened discussions with state Representative Rene Oliveira, a Brownsville Democrat. They laid out what the company wanted from state and local officials, including changes in the law and incentives, he said.