Greg Abbott sent condolences to Jimmy Carter’s wife – who had been dead a year

Texas’s Republican governor, Greg Abbott, is no stranger to social media gaffes. Photograph: Eric Gay/AP

The Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, mistakenly offered his condolences to Jimmy Carter’s dead wife shortly after the Democratic former president died on Sunday.

Abbott’s statement sent “prayers and deepest condolences” to former first lady Rosalynn Carter and the rest of her family shortly after her husband’s death at the age of 100, as the Dallas news station WFAA reported. But Rosalynn Carter had died more than a year earlier – on 19 November 2023, at age 96.