Elon Musk warns of oppressive government as newly elected Texas governor blocks land buys

Texas Democrats haven’t even taken office yet, and they’re already taking aim at the man who brought two of America’s biggest companies to the Lone Star State.Gov.-elect Gina Hinojosa, who defeated Republican Gov.Greg Abbott by 7 points last week, has moved to freeze a potential sale of state park land to Elon Musk’s SpaceX, signaling a sharp shift in how Austin plans to deal with the billionaire behind Tesla and SpaceX.Hinojosa told reporters in Austin on Thursday that she had personally called the head of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Department to “request that no action be taken” on the possible Boca Chica State Park deal while she prepares to take office in January.The land in question spans about 1,300 acres of public property in Cameron County, directly adjacent to SpaceX’s Starbase, the company’s main site for building and launching its Starship rockets. State parks commissioners had been scheduled to discuss the sale that same day, but the item was pulled from the agenda at Hinojosa’s request.“It is such an important resource,” she said.Later that day, Hinojosa doubled down in an CNN interview.“Selling our beach to Elon Musk is just something that is almost unimaginable,”  she said.“We can have a strong working relationship with Elon Musk and his companies, but it has to be on our terms,” Hinojosa added.

“It cannot be just running over the people of Texas, and that’s what changes now that I will be governor.”Musk didn’t call out Hinojosa by name, but he took to X to make the case for why his companies chose Texas in the first place.“SpaceX and Tesla have prospered in Texas, because we were not constantly operating under an oppressive and extractive state government,” he wrote.“As California became increasingly difficult, due to extreme taxes and overregulation, we moved our major domestic expansions and HQ to Texas,” he added.Musk relocated to Texas roughly six years ago and later moved the headquarters of ...