What a Blue Texas Means for Elon Musk’s Future
Democrats’ Texas sweep puts Elon Musk’s tax breaks, data centers and Starbase land under new scrutiny from Gina Hinojosa.
Elon Musk moved his companies to Texas after a dispute with California over pandemic restrictions. In the Texas election, Democrats won every statewide executive office, flipped the state House, and elected Gina Hinojosa as governor - the first Democrat in the position since 1990. Musk, the world's richest man and a major Republican donor, spent heavily to prevent this shift, donating nearly half a billion dollars to Republican causes.
Hinojosa, who takes office on January 19, has promised to freeze data center approvals and halt SpaceX's Terafab chip plant project. Her proposed moratorium on data centers is more extensive than the recent pause imposed by Republican Governor Greg Abbott. The move could impact Hinojosa's plans, as SpaceX's AI operations rely on data centers, with new facilities potentially being built at Starbase.
However, the extent of her authority is unclear, as Hinojosa's order would run through agencies with Abbott appointees.
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