Ohio lawmakers are proceeding with a measure that would urge federal authorities to relocate NASA’s headquarters to Cleveland, and state leaders are receiving plenty of support from local officials.
House Resolution 60 encourages President Donald Trump, Vice President J.D. Vance, and NASA Administrator Designate Jared Isaacman to consider relocating NASA headquarters to Cleveland seriously. The Forest City is home to NASA’s Glenn Research Center.
Republican U.S. Sen. Jon Husted and Republican U.S. Rep. Max Miller are also leading a push to relocate NASA’s headquarters to Cleveland. According to the lawmakers, the space agency has been “quietly evaluating” options for when its lease expires in 2028.
"We strongly believe now is the right moment and best opportunity to pursue this bold endeavor,” Terry Donelon, the senior director of government advocacy for the Greater Cleveland Partnership, said in prepared testimony Tuesday to the House Government Oversight Committee. “That is why GCP, along with every major business organization from across Ohio, has joined together in petitioning the Trump Administration to bring NASA HQ to Ohio – the beating heart of America’s aerospace corridor.”
Nationwide, NASA employs about 18,000 “civil servants” and works with contractors. The agency’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio has about 3,000 people working at the facility, and Buckeye State officials want to leverage the state’s status as the “birthplace of aviation.”
“House Resolution 60 is a straightforward but important call to action,” state Rep. Ty Mathews, R-Findlay, said in prepared sponsor testimony. “By relocating NASA headquarters to Cleveland, we would be acknowledging Ohio’s pivotal role in the history of space exploration and providing NASA with a strategic location that can support its mission for decades to come.
“Ohio is the birthplace of aviation, and we are home to more astronauts than any other state,” Mathews added. “Additionally, Ohio has been the site of crucial space-related facilities, such as the NASA Glenn Research Center and the NASA Neil Armstrong Test Facility, both of which play key roles in the advancement of space technologies. These assets, combined with our state’s highly skilled workforce, robust transportation infrastructure, and advanced manufacturing sector, make Ohio an ideal candidate for housing NASA’s headquarters.”
Ohio already has a high number of government jobs, and according to U.S. News & World Report, it has the ninth-highest number of federal civilian employees of any state. Additionally, lawmakers say the Buckeye State offers lower living and operating expenses than many other possible headquarters locations.
“Cleveland offers a significantly lower cost of living and operating expenses than Washington, DC., and it is in strategic alignment with broader federal efforts to reinvigorate regions outside of the Beltway,” Michael Deemer, president and CEO of Downtown Cleveland Inc. said in prepared testimony.
“There is a valuable workforce to tap into with several great institutions nearby, including Cleveland State, Case Western Reserve University, John Carroll University, and Baldwin Wallace University,” Deemer added. “Additionally, given that very few NASA Headquarters employees work in-office, consolidating operations near an existing NASA field center would streamline agency functions.”
The number of federal contractors and defense-related industries in Buckeye State could be a potential boon to its bid.
“Ohio sits in a strategically vital location at the intersection of our great nation with its close proximity to critical national defense installations, an array of cutting-edge research laboratories, a wide range of highly distinguished science & engineering programs, a statewide network of global business leaders in aerospace innovation, and is home to the Midwest Microelectronics Consortium (MMEC) dedicated to the acceleration of microelectronics technologies and the semiconductor revolution,” Donelon said.
“As the largest supplier to Boeing & Airbus – and with over 170 individual NASA suppliers residing in-state – Ohio is already well-integrated in the aerospace manufacturing pipeline and offers limitless opportunities to streamline [and] economize the nation’s mission-critical development of ‘Made in America’ space exploration products,” Donelon said. “As well, Ohio proves vastly more competitive than other potential NASA HQ relocation sites when comparing cost-of-living, operational expenses, and labor costs.”
