Former President Jimmy Carter, who is in hospice care and is less than two months away from his 100th birthday, is holding out to vote for Kamala Harris for president, his grandson Jason Carter told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
His son Chip Carter had asked if he was trying to make it to his 100th birthday, according to Jason Carter, a former Georgia state senator. The nonagenarian then told his son, “I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,” his grandson said.
Carter entered hospice care at his Georgia home in February 2023. He is the oldest living and longest-lived former president in U.S. history. He will turn 100 years old on Oct. 1, and early voting in Georgia begins on Oct. 15.
Carter has had less frosty relations with Donald Trump relative to his fellow former Democratic presidents. He has criticized some of Trump’s behaviors while also defending him from the media in the past. However, in 2019, he suggested that the Republican was an illegitimate president, saying, “Trump didn’t actually win the election in 2016. He lost the election and he was put into office because the Russians interfered on his behalf.”
Meanwhile, Trump has made references to the 99-year-old in his attacks on President Joe Biden. During a campaign speech in January, Trump brought up former first lady Rosalynn Carter’s funeral (which his wife attended but he did not) saying, “It was beautiful. Jimmy Carter was there. I thought to myself, ‘Jimmy Carter is happy now, because he will go down as a brilliant president by comparison to Joe Biden.’”
Clarissa-Jan Lim is a breaking/trending news blogger for MSNBC Digital. She was previously a senior reporter and editor at BuzzFeed News.
