Former President Jimmy Carter says he is “only trying to make it” to vote for Kamala Harris as he nears his 100th birthday.
“I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,” Carter told his son Chip. Their conversation with shared with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution by his grandson, Jason Carter.
The former president was asked by his son about his 100th birthday on October 1, and Carter insisted that electing Harris is priority. Jason Carter said his grandfather has been “more alert and interested in politics and the war in Gaza” recently.
Carter’s fierce determination to defeat Donald Trump in November comes as he enters his 18th month in hospice care. Early voting begins in his home state of Georgia on October 15.
The Carter Center announced this week that there is a musical event planned for the former president’s milestone birthday: “Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song.” The event will be held on September 17 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, where “world-renowned artists performing live tributes and special guests celebrating President Carter’s legacy of service to humanity,” according to the Center.
In June, Jason shared with Southern Living that Carter is no longer awake every day “experiencing the world as best he can as he continues through this process” after losing his wife, Rosalynn Carter, in November 2023.
“After 77 years of marriage… I just think none of us really understand what it’s like for him right now,” Jason said at the time. “We have to embrace that fact, that there’s things about the spirit that you just can’t understand.”
Carter has defied the odds. The average length of stay in hospice care was 97 days, the median was 18 days, according to the National Hospice and Palliative Care Organization data from 2020.
Jason told the outlet in June that while it initially seemed like he would only have a few days left with his grandfather after he went into hospice care in February 2023: “God had other plans.” He is the longest-lived president in US history.
