Former President Jimmy Carter told his family he was more interested in voting for Vice President Kamala Harris than his milestone birthday earlier this month.
On Wednesday, he got his wish by filling out a ballot for his fellow Democrat that was put in the drop box at the Sumter County Courthouse near his hometown of Plains, Georgia.
Carter voted for Harris weeks after turning 100 on October 1, his grandson Jason Carter and son Chip Carter told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. He had previously told Chip he was “only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris.”
Jimmy Carter, the longest-living president in US history, has been in home hospice since February 2023.
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Chip Carter said his wife, Becky, dropped off the ballot on his father’s behalf on Wednesday, one day after early voting began in Georgia.
“I think he feels good,” he said. “It was a good morning for him and good for us that he got it done.”
He said his father “absolutely” voted for Harris. “He’s never voted for a Republican in his life,” he added in a telephone call.
At the Democratic National Convention in Chicago in August, Jason Carter drew loud applause when he said his grandfather 'cannot wait to vote' for Harris.
Jason Carter also made a series of comparisons between the Nobel laureate from southwest Georgia and the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to serve as vice president.
“His legacy is measured by the lives he has touched and the good he has done. Kamala Harris carries my grandfather’s legacy,” he said. “She knows what is right, and she fights for it.”
For a 100-year-old widower who has been convalescing in his rural hometown for much of the decade, Jimmy Carter remains a surprisingly frequent target of another Oval Office veteran.
Donald Trump has made disparaging comments.
Donald Trump routinely savages him on the campaign trail, saying the Georgian must be “happy because he had a brilliant presidency compared to (Joe) Biden.”
Carter’s family prefers to draw a contrast between the two rather than engaging in recriminations, with Jason Carter emphasizing his grandfather’s devotion to “honesty and integrity.”
President Joe Biden was an early supporter of Jimmy Carter.
The former president has also maintained a close friendship with President Joe Biden, who recalls fondly his March 1976 journey to Wisconsin to endorse Carter. He was one of the few politicians at the time outside of Georgia who would be seen publicly with the Georgia governor, let alone endorse him.
“Some of my colleagues in the Senate thought it was youthful exuberance on my part,” Biden said in a video tribute in the 2021 documentary Carterland. “Well I was exuberant.”
He added: “As I said then: ‘Jimmy’s not just a bright smile. He can win, and he can appeal to more segments of the population than any other person.’”
–Greg Bluestein and Ernie Suggs, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution (TNS)
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