Elon Musk's correspondence with Texas Gov. Greg Abbott is at the center of a new lawsuit in the race for Texas governor.
Texas gubernatorial Democratic nominee Gina Hinojosa announced on Oct. 19 that shefiled a lawsuit in Travis County against Abbott to obtain unredacted emails between Musk and the governor's office as early voting begins in the election.
“I have voted and I have also filed a lawsuit today to obtain the documents,” Hinojosa said at an event in Austin.
Hinojosa said the lawsuit stems from a Sept. 29 Texas Public Information Act request she filed to inspect all documents exchanged between Abbott's office, Musk and his companies — including the emails Abbott’s office previously released to the Texas Newsroom.
In her lawsuit, Hinojosa
alleges Abbott unlawfully denied her statutory right under the Texas Public Information Act to inspect the documents.
“It is a governor and a government doing the bidding of the moneyed interests, and in this case, the biggest money in the world, instead of the people of Texas, leaving the people of Texas to fend for themselves," Hinojosa said.
Abbott's campaign called the lawsuit "baseless and an act of desperation by a failing candidate."
"It’s such a lazy political stunt that the case docket lists Greg Abbott as attorney general instead of governor when identifying who should receive the legal papers. Gina doesn’t know what she’s doing,” Texans for Greg Abbott press secretary Eduardo Leal said in a statement.
Within two hours of Hinojosa filing the lawsuit, Abbott's campaign saidit filed all documents legally required to dismiss the case.
This move comes after months of polls show the race tightening between the two candidates as Hinojosa looks to be the first Democrat to win the governor's office since Ann Richards in 1990.
Recent Texas governor race polls
Here's what October polls showed:
- U of H Hobby poll(Oct. 18) — Abbott 49%, Hinojosa 46%.
- Marist poll (Oct. 14) — Abbott 49%, Hinojosa 45%.
- UT/Texas Politics Project (Oct. 13) — Hinojosa 49%, Abbott 48%
- ReconMR (Oct. 13) — Abbott 48%, Hinojosa 47%
- UMass Lowell (Oct. 8) — Abbott 48%, Hinojosa 44%.
- YouGov poll (Oct. 6) — Hinojosa 48%, Abbott 47%.
- The New York Times (Oct. 3) — Hinojosa 49%, Abbott 46%.
- Fox News(Oct. 1) — Abbott 52%, Hinojosa 47%.
Mateo Rosiles is the Texas Connect reporter for USA TODAY and its regional papers in Texas, based in Austin. Got a news tip for him? Email him at mrosiles@usatodayco.com.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Abbott, Musk emails spark a lawsuit as the governor race tightens
