Jimmy Carter Is Said to Be Motivated to Vote for Kamala Harris

The former president, whose 100th birthday is Oct. 1, seems to have found some new motivation in the 2024 election.

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Former President Jimmy Carter in Atlanta in November at the funeral for his wife of more than seven decades, Rosalynn Carter.

Former President Jimmy Carter, who has been in hospice care for more than 17 months, has said that he has every intention of voting for Vice President Kamala Harris in the fall, according to his family.

Mr. Carter, 99, who served as the nation’s 39th president from 1977 to 1981, would turn 100 on Oct. 1. No American president has lived longer than him.

Mr. Carter’s son Chip asked his father on Wednesday if he was trying to make it to his 100th birthday, according to the former president’s grandson Jason.

“I’m trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,” Mr. Carter replied, according to the grandson.

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution previously reported on the conversation.

Ms. Harris did not immediately comment.

Mr. Carter appeared gaunt and frail at the funeral ceremony in Atlanta for his wife of 77 years, Rosalynn Carter, in November. He has remained at home in Plains, Ga., in hospice care far longer than many would have imagined; most people receive hospice care for less than a month.

The early-voting period in Georgia begins on Oct. 15, and Georgia counties are expected to start to mail out absentee ballots about a month before Election Day. Mr. Carter intends to vote by mail, his grandson said.

Georgia is one of a handful of battleground states expected to be crucial in the contest between Ms. Harris and Donald J. Trump, who won the state in 2016 but lost it, and the White House, in 2020 to Joseph R. Biden Jr.

A CBS News/YouGov poll released on Sunday showed Mr. Trump leading Ms. Harris by three percentage points in the state. But there has been limited public opinion data illuminating the state of the campaign in Georgia since Mr. Biden withdrew and endorsed Ms. Harris last month.

See more on: Jimmy Carter, 2024 Elections, Democratic Party, Kamala Harris