Greg Abbott Stayed at Fundraiser for Hours After Uvalde School Massacre: Records

Finance, flight-tracking documents show the governor stayed in Huntsville longer than he implied

By Robert T. Garrett - The Dallas Morning News • Published July 28, 2022 • Updated on July 28, 2022 at 10:45 pm

Texas Governor Greg Abbott arrives while US President Joe Biden and First Lady Jill Biden pay their respects at a makeshift memorial outside of Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas on May 29, 2022. - The President and First Lady are in Uvalde to pay their respects following a school shooting. — AFP via Getty Images

After the Uvalde school shooting, Gov. Greg Abbott spent nearly three hours in Huntsville at a campaign fundraiser that he was criticized for not canceling.

But the governor didn’t touch down and quickly depart, as he implied, after news outlets reported he’d gone ahead with the May 24 fundraiser at a private home in East Texas. Some expected Abbott to instead rush to the South Texas town where residents awaited news about unaccounted-for relatives.

The following day, Abbott said the stop in Huntsville was to “let people know that I could not stay, that I needed to go” to Austin to continue working with law enforcement on the response to the 21 killings at Robb Elementary School.