Hinojosa sues for emails between Abbott, Musk

Texas state Rep. Gina Hinojosa (D) filed a lawsuit on Monday to force her opponent in the state’s gubernatorial race, Gov. Greg Abbott (R), to release his emails with Republican ally Elon Musk.

The complaint accuses Abbott of violating state public records law by refusing to provide Hinojosa with requested documents of the governor’s exchanges with the Tesla and SpaceX founder.

Last year, the governor’s office shared nearly 1,400 pages in response to a public records request from The Texas Newsroom for Abbott’s communications with Musk. The vast majority of these documents were completely redacted.

Lawyers for Abbott and Musk fought against the release of these documents, arguing they would reveal trade secrets, confidential legal and policymaking discussions and potentially “intimate and embarrassing” messages.

In the lawsuit, Hinojosa notes that she requested to review the unredacted version of these messages “for legislative purposes,” noting that state law bars her from publicly releasing the redacted content.

The Democratic gubernatorial candidate said she has a “right to see” these documents during a Monday press conference announcing the new complaint.

“This is in-our-face corruption,” she said. “It is a governor and a government doing the bidding of the moneyed interest, the biggest money in the world, instead of the people of Texas and leaving the people of Texas to fend for themselves. That is what this election is about. That is what this lawsuit is about.”

In a statement to The Hill, an Abbott spokesperson called the lawsuit “baseless” and “nothing more than an act of desperation.”

Hinojosa and Abbott are locked in a competitive race for the state’s top executive office. In a Marist survey conducted earlier this month, the incumbent Republican posted a 4-point advantage over his Democratic challenger that was within the poll’s margin of error.