US Rep Dan Crenshaw Buys Tesla Shares After Defending Move To Texas: What Investors Should Know

A member of Congress from Texas bought shares of Tesla Inc TSLA after vocally supporting the company's move to the Lone Star State. 

What Happened: New filings reveal that U.S. House of Representative Dan Crenshaw made three purchases of Tesla shares in the month of November. The transactions were:

• Nov. 8: $1,000 to $15,000 buy order TSLA
• Nov. 9: $1,000 to $15,000 buy order TSLA
• Nov. 12: $1,000 to $15,000 buy order TSLA

Crenshaw also made two sales on Nov. 12 and Nov. 16 for $1,000 to $15,000 each.

The transactions were reported this week as part of the STOCK Act, which requires members of Congress to report stock and crypto transactions.

Related Link: Nancy Pelosi Buys Tesla Calls, Stands To Benefit From New Biden EV Plan

Why It’s Important: Crenshaw serves as a Republican representative for the state of Texas. Crenshaw represents the 2nd Congressional District in Texas, which includes portions of Houston.

Crenshaw has been against several forms of renewable energy but had remained fairly silent on electric vehicles. Crenshaw made a list in 2019 of members of Congress who have doubted climate change publicly.

The Representative called wind and solar energy “silly solutions” to climate change.

In 2020, Crenshaw made headlines for supporting Tesla CEO Elon Musk in moving its headquarters to Texas over a battle on reopening operations in the state of California.

“Texas gets better every day. Good conservative principles make good governance, and attract the best and the brightest. The future is happening in Texas,” Crenshaw tweeted in May, 2020.

The tweet was a response to Musk saying Tesla was filing a lawsuit against Alameda County, California over acting against orders from the governor, president and Constitutional freedoms.

“Frankly, this is the final straw. Tesla will now move its HQ and future programs to Texas/Nevada immediately,” Musk tweeted.

Since welcoming Tesla to Texas and buying shares, Crenshaw has become more vocal on supporting items that could benefit the electric vehicle company.

“Imagine being so out of touch that you think spending tens of thousands more on an electric car is easy for most people. 78% of subsidies go to those making six figures,” Crenshaw tweeted in response to an article about Pete Buttigieg.

As Congress debates whether to grant tax credits to customers who buy electric vehicles and whether union-made vehicles should be awarded additional credits, several members of Congress own stock in Tesla and could benefit personally from certain items being passed.

Crenshaw made several trades in 2020 based on when lockdown orders were put in effect and after having meetings that could have predicted reopening plans. Trades included buying Amazon.com AMZN, Southwest Airlines LUV and others.

Price Action: TSLA shares were up 1.35% at $1,017 Friday. 

Photo courtesy of Tesla.