September 02, 2025 11:51 AM UTC

Trump Will Move Space Command to Alabama (Again)

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• by: Colorado Pols

UPDATE: NBC News reporting, President Donald Trump says Colorado’s mail ballot election system was a “big factor” in his decision to move Space Command to Alabama, because that’s how we do business in America now apparently:

“The problem I have with Colorado, one of the big problems, they do mail-in voting, they went to all mail-in voting, so they have automatically crooked elections,” Trump said in the Oval Office…

“We can’t have that when a state is for mail-in voting, that means they want dishonest elections, because that’s what that means. So that played a big factor also,” Trump said while flanked by the Alabama lawmakers who lobbied for Space Command’s move to their state.

Who will be the first Colorado Republican to stand up for the election system to which they all owe their jobs? Lauren Boebert? Jeff Crank?

Don’t hold your breath, folks.

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As The Associated Press reports, President Trump is expected to announce today that he is moving U.S. Space Command from its current headquarters at Peterson Air Force Base in Colorado Springs to a new home at the Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama:

President Donald Trump’s administration will announce on Tuesday that U.S. Space Command will be located in Alabama, reversing a Biden-era decision to keep it at its temporary headquarters in Colorado, according to two people familiar with the announcement.

Trump is expected to speak Tuesday afternoon, and he will give the new location, according to the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to confirm the plans ahead of the official announcement. A Pentagon website set up to livestream the remarks describes the event as a “U.S. Space Command HQ Announcement.”…

…Alabama and Colorado have long battled to claim Space Command because it has significant implications for the local economy. The site also has been a political prize, with elected officials from both Alabama and Colorado asserting their state is the better location.

Trump initially announced his plans to move Space Command HQ to Huntsville, Alabama in the waning days of his first administration — a decision that was widely believed to be a political gift to Alabama Republicans such as Sen. Tommy Tuberville and Rep. Mo Brooks. As we noted at the time, and which bears repeating, Trump often claimed incorrectly that he was moving the “Space Force” HQ to Alabama; “Space Command” is a multi-service organization under the Department of Defense, while the “Space Force” is a separate branch of the military.

Colorado Republicans, including then-Rep. Doug Lamborn (R-Colorado Springs), publicly opposed moving Space Command HQ away from Peterson AFB, which had been its only home since Trump formally re-established Space Command in 2018. In July 2023, President Biden cancelled Trump’s directive to move the HQ to Huntsville, declaring that Colorado Springs would be its permanent home. Ebullient Republicans such as Rep. Lauren Boebert quickly claimed credit for keeping Space Command in Colorado. But ever since Trump was re-elected in 2024, rumors have persisted that he would eventually force HQ to complete its move to Huntsville; today Trump is expected to finalize that decision.

Losing Space Command HQ will cost Colorado at least 1,400 jobs and more than $1 billion in annual economic benefits. The move also creates a big political problem for Republicans in Colorado’s Congressional delegation (aside from Boebert’s inevitable backtracking). The issue will be particularly important in CO-05, where freshman Republican Rep. Jeff Crank is going to have to explain to voters how Space Command HQ was lost on his watch. The topic will undoubtedly come up for Rep. Gabe Evans (R-Ft. Lupton) as well, given that he is considered to be the most vulnerable Republican incumbent in the country in 2026.

Both Crank and Evans have been endorsed for re-election by Trump, but that’s where their influence with the Big Orange Guy comes to an end (Crank’s man crush on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also proved fruitless). When their home state needed them to deliver on keeping Space Command HQ in Colorado, Republicans couldn’t deliver.

This is also yet another reminder that elections have consequences. Colorado is losing Space Command HQ because Trump was elected in 2024. Trump supporters f***ed around and found out.