Gina Hinojosa, the Democratic nominee for governor, has gone to court to see unredacted communications between Gov. Greg Abbott's office and Elon Musk's Texas-based companies.
Hinojosa, a state representative from the Austin area, announced the lawsuit Monday, the first day of early voting, at an event in Austin. "I have voted and I have also filed a lawsuit today to obtain the documents," she said, according to The Texas Newsroom, whose report was published by Houston Public Media.
She argues that her position as a member of the Texas House entitles her to review the records. Hinojosa said her Sept. 29 request to view them was denied. When she made that request, she said that tech executives were gaining power in Texas and that the close ties between state government and the tech industry made transparency "essential for accountability."
A fight that started in 2025
Her request and the suit both point back to The Texas Newsroom's reporting last year on the governor's efforts to keep the Musk communications private. In summer 2025, Abbott's office cited privacy protections and other exceptions to the state's public records law. It said releasing the records "would have a chilling effect on the frank and open discussion necessary for the decision-making process."
In November 2025, the office gave The Texas Newsroom nearly 1,400 pages. All but about 200 of them were fully blacked out, and many of the pages that could be read were already public or said little about Musk's dealings with the state, the news organization reported.
