Nathan Johnson says if elected he’ll investigate state’s deal with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide rural internet

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A Texas Democrat running to become the state’s attorney general has said he will investigate Elon Musk’s SpaceX company if elected, saying it “sure looks like” corruption was involved in a deal he said handed the world’s richest man $110m of taxpayers’ money.

Nathan Johnson made the comment in an interview with the Dallas News on Friday, in which he called for greater legislative scrutiny of state grants funneled to SpaceX for its Starlink satellite program, which provides fast internet access for customers in remote areas.

Johnson, who won the Democratic primary runoff for attorney general in May, said the award by Texas Republicans of 99% of the available grant funds to a company led by billionaire Musk, a Donald Trump ally, was lopsided.

“I am not declaring that corruption was at work in this instance. I am saying that it sure looks like it,” Johnson, a state senator, told the Dallas News. “Public confidence in the bidding process has been undermined.”

During his primary campaign, Johnson promised to overhaul the office of the Texas attorney general, a position currently held by Ken Paxton, the scandal-ridden hardline Republican recently nominated by his party to run for the US Senate in November’s midterms.

He has said he will work closely with the state comptroller to audit how government contracts are awarded.

The Starlink grants, signed off by the Republican Texas governor, Greg Abbott, after his office reportedly revised rules to favor low-Earth-orbit satellite providers in bids to provide rural internet access, have become a particular source of controversy.

Records show Musk has made previous monetary donations to Abbott, among many others, but there is no suggestion it is linked to the grants.

Johnson questioned members of the Texas broadband development office (BDO) at a hearing of the state senate’s business and commerce committee in June, at which they conceded changes to the grant-awarding process came at Abbott’s behest.

“The office of the governor asked us to look at how our proposed structure compared to other states,” Bryant Clayton, director of the BDO, said, according to KUT News. “Generally … we were out of step with other nearby states.”

Eight companies offering ground-based fiber broadband complained in a letter they appeared to have been cut out of the revised grant application process, a development the committee’s chair, Republican Charles Schwertner, seemed to acknowledge.

“I’ll just say it bluntly. Favoritism and transparency are real big concerns that have been brought to my office,” he told the hearing.

In his interview with the Dallas News, Johnson said the Starlink broadband awards should face additional legislative scrutiny, and promised to look closer at the state’s dealings with SpaceX – headquartered in Starbase, Texas – if he wins in November.

He has touted an anti-corruption policy plan on the campaign trail, and his assertion that he will launch inquiries into grants effectively puts an investigation into Musk on the ballot, NBC News said.

“The AG is supposed to ensure that government serves the public good over private interests, not the other way around,” Johnson said on X in June, linking to a speech attacking Mayes Middleton, his Republican opponent in November who has declared himself a Trump loyalist.

Abbott, meanwhile, has defended the grants, saying they were ultimately directed to SpaceX, which dominates the lower-Earth-orbit internet satellite industry, because ground-based broadband solutions were costly and problematic.

“Governor Abbott supports getting high-speed internet to rural Texans as quickly and cost-effectively as possible,” Andrew Mahaleris, his press secretary, told KUT News in a statement. “Low Earth orbit satellite service is essential for the most remote areas where traditional fiber is too expensive and slow to build.”

The Guardian has contacted SpaceX and Abbott’s office. The Dallas News said neither responded to its requests for comment.