A Travis County judge has ordered Gov. Greg Abbott to stop blocking Gina Hinojosa, his Democratic opponent for Texas governor, from viewing his private communications with Elon Musk, just days before the Nov. 3 election.
Abbott’s office filed an appeal and called the lawsuit a “baseless stunt.”
State Rep. Hinojosa filed suit against Abbott on Oct. 19 after he refused to hand over records requested under the Texas Public Information Act.
Travis County court records show a judge granted a temporary restraining order Monday in favor of Hinojosa.
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Abbott’s office fired back with a statement calling the lawsuit a political stunt.
“This lawsuit is a baseless stunt and nothing more than an act of desperation. State Representative Gina Hinojosa is abusing her official capacity as an outgoing lawmaker for political purposes,” the statement read. “The Office of the Governor’s appeal automatically halts the trial court judge’s order, and the Office has filed a motion to dismiss the baseless lawsuit in its entirety.”
Abbott’s office filed an emergency petition for a writ of mandamus with the 15th Court of Appeals on Tuesday, arguing the Travis County District Court lacked jurisdiction to issue the order.
The petition argues that under Texas law, only the Texas Supreme Court has the authority to issue mandatory or compulsory orders against the governor.
“Plaintiff’s request sought to abuse her legislative access for personal campaign purposes and contemplated public disclosure of information made confidential by law,” the document reads.
Hinojosa had requested access to the same Abbott-Musk communications previously sought by The Texas Newsroom.
“Abbott should release the emails. The people of Texas deserve to know what Abbott is fighting so hard to keep hidden,” Hinojosa said in a statement to KSAT. “Musk is now Abbott’s single largest donor this cycle, donating $5 million in the last filing. After 12 years of selling out Texas to his billionaire and trillionaire donors, Texans are sick and tired of Abbott’s corruption.”
Abbott’s office produced 1,374 pages in response to that earlier request, but nearly all were blacked out, according to her lawsuit.
The lawsuit alleges that Abbott argued some of the communications were “intimate and embarrassing.”
Under Texas law, a sitting legislator can request government records, including confidential ones, for legislative purposes.
Abbott’s office acknowledged it had already collected and assembled the documents but still refused to let Hinojosa inspect them, the lawsuit alleges.
Hinojosa’s lawsuit details an extensive financial relationship between Abbott and Musk, including more than $54 million in state grants to SpaceX, $1.7 billion in school tax breaks for Musk’s Terafab project, and at least $500,000 in direct contributions from Musk to Abbott.
The lawsuit also notes Musk asked Abbott if he would “have his back.” According to the filing, Abbott responded, “I said 100%.” The next day Musk filed paperwork to reincorporate SpaceX in Texas.
Hinojosa is not seeking to make the communications public. Texas law would require her to keep any confidential records private and allows Abbott to require a confidentiality agreement before inspection.
A hearing on a temporary injunction has been set for Monday, Nov. 2 at 9 a.m.
Abbott’s legal team requested a ruling from the appeals court by 5 p.m. Tuesday so the governor could seek relief from the Texas Supreme Court if needed before the district court’s Thursday morning deadline that would give Hinojosa access to the private communications.
