Texas Governor Greg Abbott has dismissed a lawsuit filed by Democratic gubernatorial nominee Gina Hinojosa seeking access to confidential communications between his office and Elon Musk's companies, calling it a “lazy political stunt.”
Hinojosa, state representative challenging Abbott in November, filed the lawsuit Monday, the first day of early voting in Texas, after the Republican governor's office denied her request to inspect unredacted records involving Musk and his businesses in the state.
"The lawsuit is baseless and nothing more than an act of desperation," Andrew Mahaleris, Abbott's press secretary, said in a statement. "Texans see this for what it is: a political stunt."
Abbott also criticized Hinojosa's motives after casting his early ballot in Del Valle on Monday, accusing the Democrat of trying to attract attention to her campaign.
"What Gina is trying to do more than anything else is to try to get attention for her and her campaign," Abbott told reporters. "This election has slipped through her hands and she doesn't have any ability to do anything else other than to grasp at straws to get attention."
Newsweek has contacted Abbott and Hinojosa's teams for comment.
Why Hinojosa Wants to See the Musk Emails
Hinojosa argued that her position as a state lawmaker entitles her to review the communications.
“The people of Texas and the people of House District 49 are concerned over the growing power of tech giants in Texas regarding our tax dollars, resources, and data,” Hinojosa’s September 29 request said in part.
Speaking outside the Travis County courthouse Monday, Hinojosa said the dispute was about government transparency and Musk's growing influence in Texas.
“I don’t think there’s a torrid love affair between Greg Abbott and Elon Musk,” she said at an event. “What this is about is the fact that Elon Musk gave Greg Abbott half a million dollars for his campaign and then received $1.7 billion in property tax breaks.”
Musk's business interests in Texas include SpaceX, Tesla, X, Starlink, The Boring Company, Neuralink and xAI. Musk contributed $500,000 to Abbott's campaign in May, campaign finance records show.
What's in the Confidential Documents?
The records at the center of the lawsuit stem from a 2025 public records request by The Texas Newsroom seeking communications between Abbott's office and Musk or his companies, according to Hinojosa’s lawsuit.
Abbott's office objected to releasing the records, citing several legal protections, including attorney-client privilege, deliberative-process privilege and the state's competitive business interests.
In August 2025, Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton upheld the objections in part but directed the governor's office to release certain materials.
The office subsequently produced 1,374 pages of documents. However, according to Hinojosa's lawsuit, only about 200 pages were not redacted, leaving much of the correspondence inaccessible to the public.
In a letter dated September 29, Hinojosa requested permission to inspect the withheld material under a Texas law allowing lawmakers to review certain confidential government records for legislative purposes. Her request sought the documents “without any redactions whatsoever, regardless of how ‘embar[r]assing’ or ‘intimate’ they might be.” She offered to sign a confidentiality agreement, which could restrict her ability to publicly discuss information contained in the documents.
The governor's office denied her request, prompting the lawsuit.
Abbott’s lawyers argued in a court filing that Hinojosa sought the records to benefit her gubernatorial campaign rather than for legislative purposes, writing that the request was “calculated to benefit Plaintiff personally in her campaign for Governor, not to assist with any official tasks as a state legislator.”
Hinojosa’s lawsuit also cites reports that Texas officials had discussed selling Boca Chica State Park, near Brownsville, to Musk’s SpaceX, which operates a launch facility nearby.
The dispute comes as Abbott seeks a historic fourth term as governor and has stepped up his criticism of Hinojosa amid signs that the race is tightening.
...
Newsweek’s reporters and editors used Martyn, our AI assistant, to produce this story. Learn more about Martyn here. Contact Newsweek editors on this story: Steven Frank and Edward T. Cummins