DC, Maryland, Virginia making pitches to Amazon for second headquarters

WASHINGTON - Leaders around the D.C. region are making their sales pitches to online retail giant Amazon. The company announced last week that it is looking to build a second headquarters in North America and local officials in the District, Maryland and Virginia are gunning for it.

Amazon says right now that every city is on a level playing field. It is estimated the facility would bring in 50,000 new jobs.

In D.C., Mayor Muriel Bowser got creative with a video posted on her Twitter page.

In the video, she says since the original Amazon headquarters is in Seattle or the "West Coast Washington," Washington D.C. or the "East Coast Washington" would make the most sense for its second headquarters. She also brings up that Amazon owner Jeff Bezos already has a home in the nation's capital.

In Maryland, things could get ugly. Gov. Larry Hogan announced he was meeting with Amazon and proposing the Port Covington development site in Baltimore.

"This could be transformative, not just for Baltimore City, but for the whole state of Maryland," he said. "They expect to get their money, but they don't need a big return because they really want to help cities like Baltimore to get more jobs."

That has the Office of Prince George's County Executive Rushern Baker reeling. They said they are not sure what to make of Hogan's comments because they had submitted several sites to be reviewed and will now likely submit them directly to Amazon. Also, Baker plans to run for the governor of Maryland himself.

Meanwhile, Montgomery County is also interested in bringing Amazon to town.

"I believe that we have some very competitive sites in the Montgomery County area and I understand why the governor [said] Baltimore and he thinks they need a shot in the arm. But the last time I checked, I was the county executive of Montgomery County and I am going to fight real hard for Montgomery County.

To no one's surprise, the commonwealth of Virginia also wants Amazon there.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership said in a statement, "Virginia has a keen interest in the Amazon HQ2 opportunity ... VEDP is committed to working closely with Governor McAuliffe and Commerce and Trade Secretary Haymore to prepare a robust response in concert with our economic development partners at the local, regional, and state levels."

Amazon will be spending $5 billion for the construction project.