The former Democratic president — who has been receiving hospice care since February 2023 — will turn 100 on October 1, two weeks before early voting begins in Georgia.
With his 100th birthday on the horizon, former President Jimmy Carter says his main goal is to “make it” to this fall to vote for Kamala Harris for president, according to his grandson, Jason Carter.
While speaking with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution earlier this week, Jason — a former Georgia state senator — recalled an apparent conversation Carter had with his son, Chip Carter.
Jason said Chip asked Carter if he’s hoping to make it to his 100th birthday this October. “I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,” Carter replied, according to his grandson, who is the oldest of Carter and his late wife Rosalynn’s 22 grandchildren.
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Carter will turn 100 on October 1, making him the only president in US history to become a centenarian. The former Democratic president is already both the oldest living and longest-lived president in history.
While Election Day 2024 is November 5, early voting in Georgia, where Carter resides, starts on October 15.
He also voted in the Georgia primary, Jason told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s Monica Pearson Show back in May.
“He’s not going to miss an election!” Jason said. “It’s important to him. I mean, that’s the person he is.”
Carter entered hospice care in February 2023 following a “series of short hospital stays,” the Carter Center said at the time. The next month, President Joe Biden shared that Carter had asked him to deliver the eulogy at his funeral.
Later that year, Carter’s wife of over seven decades, Rosalynn Carter, passed away at 96, just days after entering hospice as well.
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In an interview with Southern Living in June, Jason said his grandfather was “experiencing the world as best he can as he continues through this process” following Rosalynn’s death.
“After 77 years of marriage… I just think none of us really understand what it’s like for him right now,” Jason said. “We have to embrace that fact, that there’s things about the spirit that you just can’t understand.”
At the time, he shared that his father isn’t awake every day, but told the Journal-Constitution that the 39th president is “more alert and interested in politics and the war in Gaza,” according to USA Today.
Meanwhile, Carter is set to be honored next month in a star-studded musical celebration for his 100th birthday, titled “Jimmy Carter 100: A Celebration in Song.” Eric Church, Maren Morris, and GROUPLOVE are among the scheduled performers announced so far.
The event is set to take place at Atlanta’s Fox Theatre on September 17.
