The Incoming Democrat Governor Of Texas Is Already Going After Elon Musk
Texas Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa (D-TX) has asked the state's parks department to hold off on a proposed sale of state land to SpaceX until she takes office, contacting the department's executive director before she is sworn in this January. The move puts part of Elon Musk's expansion plans in South Texas on hold.
Hinojosa won the governorship this week as Democrats swept the statewide races in Texas, a result that put the state's relationship with Musk and his companies in question. Musk relocated several of his businesses to Texas in recent years, and he has close ties to President Donald Trump and outgoing Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX).
Investors reacted the morning after the vote. Tesla and SpaceX each fell nearly 6% in premarket trading on Wednesday. Musk had spent heavily to prevent that outcome. The billionaire, one of the Republican Party's largest donors, had given more than $445 million to Republican candidates and causes this cycle and urged his followers on X to vote against Democrats. About $190 million of it went into Ken Paxton's (R-TX) race for the U.S. Senate, most of it through the Senate Leadership Fund, the super PAC aligned with Senate Republican leaders.
The sale under discussion covers about 1,300 acres of public land in Cameron County, including Boca Chica State Park, which covers about 1,055 acres and sits next to SpaceX's Starbase rocket facility. Acquiring the land would allow SpaceX to expand its operations at the site, which serves as the company's main launch and production hub for its Starship program.
A draft agenda for the Texas Parks and Wildlife Commission's Thursday meeting included the sale, according to the Texas Tribune. The item came off the agenda at Hinojosa's request, she said, though the department had already said in October that the commission was not considering the sale at its November meeting. Hinojosa did not say whether the department agreed to wait until she takes office, and the commission did not announce a new date for the discussion. Texas Monthly first reported the proposed deal last month, and environmental groups opposed it after the news became public.
Hinojosa tied her intervention to her personal connection to the area. The park lies in the Rio Grande Valley, where she grew up.
"It's such an important resource," Hinojosa said of the park. "The Valley is so important to me as the place I am from, and I will never forget it."
The Boca Chica pause is the first concrete action Hinojosa has taken against Musk, one of Texas's largest employers, and it arrives before she holds any formal authority over state agencies. Abbott remains governor until January, and the Parks and Wildlife Commission's members serve under his appointments.
Musk's companies came to Texas largely on the strength of the state's business climate. He moved the headquarters of Tesla, SpaceX, X, and The Boring Company to the state, citing in part his opposition to Democratic policies in California. Tesla relocated its headquarters to Austin in 2021, and Musk announced in 2024 that SpaceX and X would follow after California enacted a law he publicly opposed. Starbase incorporated as its own city in 2025.
Hinojosa's election also raises questions beyond Musk's holdings. During the campaign, she promised a temporary moratorium on data centers in Texas, a pledge that bears on the artificial intelligence infrastructure buildout the Trump administration has promoted as part of its push to reindustrialize the American economy. Texas has become one of the country's leading destinations for large-scale data center construction.
CNN's Jake Tapper pressed Hinojosa on that issue in an interview on Thursday.
"Your victory, in particular, is one that we're told AI investors are worried about, given your promises of a temporary data center moratorium," Tapper said.
Hinojosa said she intends to change the terms on which Texas deals with major companies.
"We have always been a pro-business state in Texas, but what changes now with me as governor is it has to be a partnership that benefits Texans," she said.
Tapper also asked about Boca Chica, and whether Musk might move his companies out of Texas. "Selling our beach to Elon Musk is just something that is almost unimaginable. It's unacceptable," Hinojosa said. "Our beaches are enshrined in our Texas Constitution as being free and open to the people of Texas."
Hinojosa claims she remains open to working with Musk, though she placed conditions on that relationship.
"We can have a strong working relationship with Elon Musk and his companies, but it has to be on our terms," Hinojosa told Tapper. "It cannot be just running over the people of Texas, and that's what changes now that I will be governor."
Texas Governor-elect Gina Hinojosa: "We can have a strong working relationship with Elon Musk and his companies, but it has to be on our terms"
Jake Tapper asked her about blocking the sale of a Texas state park to SpaceX, and whether Musk might leave the state over it. Her... https://t.co/owsQCmw5iW pic.twitter.com/Zzl8At5X2J— Fireside Alpha (@firesidealpha) November 6, 2026
Hinojosa did not say in the interview what terms she would require of Musk's companies. On data centers, she said Texas needs to "stop what we are doing with data centers until we have those protections," new state laws she did not spell out.
Hinojosa takes office in January, and the fate of the Boca Chica land sale, and the working relationship between Musk's companies and the state of Texas, now rests with her administration.