Abbott Musk Emails: Appeals Court Freezes Hinojosa's Access Days Before the Election, With a Hearing Set for November 2

HOUSTON - The loudest legal fight of the Texas governor's race is over emails almost nobody has read. In 2025, The Texas Newsroom requested Gov. Greg Abbott's communications with Elon Musk's Texas companies; Abbott's office released 1,374 pages, but all except about 200 were fully blacked out, with some withheld as "intimate and embarrassing." In September, state Rep. Gina Hinojosa, Abbott's Democratic opponent, requested the same records under the Texas Public Information Act, arguing that as a sitting legislator she is entitled to inspect them confidentially. When the office refused, she sued on October 19, the first day of early voting.

This week the case moved fast, then stopped. On Monday, Travis County District Judge Catherine Mauzy ordered Abbott's office to let Hinojosa review the unredacted records by 10 a.m. Thursday, under a confidentiality agreement barring her from disclosing them, CBS Austin reported. Abbott appealed immediately, and on Tuesday the 15th Court of Appeals - whose three justices were all appointed by Abbott - froze the order, KUT reported. A hearing is now set for November 2, the day before the election. Hinojosa is making the fight itself the closing argument: "Abbott should release the emails," she told KSAT, adding that Texans "deserve to know what Abbott is fighting so hard to keep hidden." Her campaign framed the ruling as a test of who the governor serves: "Abbott uses his power for his donors."

Abbott's office is attacking the judge as hard as the lawsuit. Spokesman Andrew Mahaleris called it "a sham lawsuit in a rigged district court," and the governor's general counsel accused Hinojosa of "handpicking one of her own campaign donors to serve as judge," pointing to a $500 contribution Mauzy made to Hinojosa's campaign in June, KUT reported. Hinojosa spokesman Tommy Kubitschek answered in a statement to Bloomberg Law: "If they are worried about $500, just wait until they find out what $5.5 million bought Musk." That figure includes a fresh $5 million check: Musk was Abbott's largest donor in the latest reporting period, which ran from September 25 to October 25, The Texan reported. Abbott raised more than $26 million in that stretch to Hinojosa's $17.5 million, and ended it with about $8.6 million on hand to her roughly $1 million. Whatever the appeals court decides on November 2, the emails themselves - whatever they say - will almost certainly stay sealed until after Texans have voted.