Fort Bend County Judge Daniel Wong said he will not participate in any county vote involving Tesla because his engineering firm has worked with the company for at least five years.

Wong's disclosure, reported by the Fort Bend Independent on Aug. 17, adds a new obstacle to the county's pursuit of Tesla's proposed $10.1 billion solar manufacturing plant near Richmond.

"That relationship predates my appointment as county judge. To avoid any concerns arising from that business relationship, I will not participate in any county vote involving Tesla," Wong told the Fort Bend Independent.

His abstention reshapes the vote math. If Tesla formally seeks a county tax abatement for Project Crystal Sun, approval would require three affirmative votes from the four commissioners. That threshold becomes nearly impossible to reach while Commissioners Grady Prestage and Dexter McCoy continue boycotting Commissioners Court.

Tesla has not yet formally placed a county incentive request on the court's agenda. The company has applied for a property-tax abatement from Lamar Consolidated ISD and told state officials it is evaluating locations in multiple states. But if and when a county request arrives, the math is clear: at least one of the two absent Democrats must return.

Prestage and McCoy have boycotted court meetings for nearly two months, protesting Wong's continuation as interim county judge. The same standoff already threatens a $21.3 million shortfall in county revenue because commissioners cannot adopt the proposed property tax rate, as we reported Aug. 13.

The stakes for Fort Bend taxpayers are substantial. Tesla's Project Crystal Sun would build a vertically integrated solar-cell factory on roughly 3,050 acres off FM 762 and FM 1994. Documents filed with the Texas Comptroller's Office estimate 9,712 permanent jobs and 1,147 construction jobs, according to PV Magazine. The plant would generate roughly $4 billion in state and local tax revenue, per filings reported by CW39. Tesla plans to begin construction in 2026, finish in 2028 and start operations in early 2029.

Tesla has warned that Texas could "miss the opportunity to attract billions of dollars in investment" if the project goes elsewhere.

The proposed site falls in Prestage's precinct, meaning his boycott could block nearly 10,000 jobs from landing in the district he represents. No on-record statements from Prestage or McCoy regarding the Tesla abatement were available as of Aug. 18.