Governor’s post mistakenly sympathized with long-dead wife of Jimmy Carter

Greg Abbott has expressed sympathy to Rosalynn Carter on passing of her husband, though she has been dead since November 2023

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has sparked social media uproar by mistakenly extending his condolences to Rosalynn Carter following the death of her husband, former US President Jimmy Carter. However, Rosalynn Carter had, in fact, passed away over a year earlier.

The 39th US president passed away at the age of 100 in his home in Plains, Georgia, on Sunday.

He had been battling an aggressive form of melanoma since 2023 and spent his final years at home receiving hospice care.

In the initial statement released after Carter’s demise by Abbot’s office, the governor said that he and his wife sent their “prayers and deepest condolences to First Lady Rosalynn Carter and the entire Carter family.” 

Rosalynn Carter died, aged 96, on November 19, 2023, shortly after entering hospice.

Abbott’s statement was corrected about two hours later but the governor’s gaffe did not go unnoticed on social media.

Read more

“Did anyone in the governor’s office proof the condolence note?” a Democratic group in Texas wrote in a comment to the governor’s post on social platform X. “You sent condolences to Rosalynn? What world are you living in?” another person said on social media. “Guess someone around your uninformed circle realized you sent condolences to Mrs. Carter who preceded President Carter,” one more comment read.

The governor’s office did not comment on the issue.

It is not the first time Abbot has sparked controversy with his statements. In January, he provoked an international scandal when the Mexican Foreign Ministry accused him of advocating “violent acts” against migrants attempting to reach the US. At that time, the governor said the only thing the Texas law enforcement agencies were not doing to prevent illegal migration was “shooting people who come across the border.” Washington would treat it as murder, he added at that time.

Mexico then said it “deplores the comments” made by Abbot, adding that it was deeply concerned about the expressions that encourage “the dehumanization of the migrant community.”