As Jimmy Carter approaches 100, his motivation is Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign for president

Former President Jimmy Carter, 99, turned to his son a few weeks ago as he watched President Joe Biden, 81, announce he was passing the torch to a younger generation. “It’s sad,” Carter said quietly.

Carter and Biden are friends and have much in common as members of an elite group elected to the White House. Biden is the oldest to ever serve in office, and Carter has lived longer than any other former president. Neither graduated from Harvard or Yale. Biden is the son of a used-car salesman, and Carter’s father ran a peanut farm. Now, both will serve one term as presidents.

Carter has been in hospice care for 18 months, and his health has deteriorated since the death of his wife, Rosalynn, in November, two family members said. But these days, as the former president’s 100th birthday approaches on Oct. 1, he’s been talking more, asking about the rapidly changing 2024 presidential campaign and enjoying the momentum of Vice President Kamala Harris, the recent Democratic nominee. He’s even eating mini cupcakes — his favorites are red velvet and caramel.

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James Earl “Chip” Carter III told the Washington Post that his father spent days watching all the speeches from last month’s Democratic National Convention, which he recorded for him. “He thought Michelle Obama was the best, and Kamala was great, too,” he said.

Carter’s birthday next month includes a concert in Atlanta, a 100-mile bike ride near his hometown of Plains, Georgia, and other events. But when Chip Carter told his father that many people thought he was trying to survive to see his birthday, the former president replied, “He said he didn’t care. It’s just a birthday. He said he cared about voting for Kamala Harris.”

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Carter’s swing state of Georgia is key to the November election. Biden defeated Donald Trump in 2020 by less than 1% of the vote in the state, and Carter’s family said they were looking forward to casting their absentee ballot for Harris.

“He doesn’t think Donald Trump should be president again,” Chip Carter said.

“I will never lie to you,” Carter famously promised during his 1976 campaign, which followed Richard M. Nixon’s lies about his involvement in the Watergate scandal. Carter has said that one of the many things that annoys him about Trump is that he doesn’t tell the truth. Fact-checkers at numerous outlets have documented many of Trump’s lies, including the lie that Biden stole the 2020 election from him.

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Trump has long derided Jimmy Carter as the worst president in history, and recently said he thinks Biden might be worse. After losing the 1980 election to Ronald Reagan, Carter began humanitarian work after his presidency. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his efforts to promote democracy, human rights and better health around the world.

Although his vital signs are good and he is eating well, Carter remains very tender, with some days being better than others, his family said. He needs a wheelchair to get around.

“After my grandmother died, he had a pretty long period of depression where he wasn’t very involved in life,” said Jason Carter, his oldest grandson. “But now he’s talking about politics again.”

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On August 18, Rosalynn’s birthday, the former president was carried to her grave, located on the shore of the pond in front of their home.

“He was looking at her gravestone, and I started talking, and he told me to be quiet,” Chip Carter said. For about 20 minutes, his father sat in silence, looking at the burial site of his wife of 77 years last year. “He was praying, no doubt, but he could have just been talking to his mom,” Chip Carter said.

The next day, the Democratic convention began, and Carter began watching the presidential race. He was shielded from television news, especially reports of Israel’s war with Gaza, for fear it would upset him.

Carter brokered the 1978 Camp David negotiations, a historic peace agreement between Israel and Egypt. Earlier this summer, Chip Carter said his father was concerned about Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s handling of the war and told him, “I hope Joe [Biden] prevents Netanyahu from overthrowing himself,” noting that he believes Netanyahu supports Trump.

Until recently, Carter’s television schedule often featured baseball games and light-hearted 1950s sitcoms. Leave it to Beaver.

Chip then began replaying the Democratic National Convention campaign speeches. “I spent most of the day watching the convention sessions from the night before, with a few breaks,” he said. His father was enthralled, commenting on the speeches and saying how well Hillary and Bill Clinton and Obama and others had done. “I’m very interested in the campaign,” his son said.

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Jason Carter said Harris’ vice presidential running mate, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, “has some Jimmy Carter vibes.” Walz is the first person on the Democratic ticket since Carter who did not attend law school. Carter graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy. Walz earned a master’s degree in education from the University of Minnesota.

Carter, who has a long history of championing women and African-Americans, wants to live up to Harris’s election. During his 1977-81 administration, Carter appointed the first black woman to serve in the Cabinet, Patricia Roberts Harris, to serve as secretary of housing and urban development.

Carter enjoys hearing about the family farm, where 1,400 acres of longcone pines were recently planted. He smiles when he hears about Habitat for Humanity. Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter have led home-building efforts with the group for years, and to celebrate his birthday, country stars Garth Brooks and Trisha Yearwood, friends of the Carters, will lead a 30-home project in St. Paul, Minn.

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His family and the Carter Center in Atlanta have planned several events to celebrate the milestone birthday, including a pop, rock, country, jazz, hip-hop and classical concert on Sept. 17 by Chuck Leavell, D-Nice, Drive-By Truckers, Maren Morris, Carlene Carter, the B-52’s and others. Former Atlanta Braves star Dale Murphy, rapper Killer Mike and actors Sean Penn and Renée Zellweger will also perform.

Carter continues to have a arduous time, and no one is sure how much longer he will live or what drives him.

“I really don’t know what to think about it,” Jason Carter said. “I really think at this point he’s given up on trying to control the situation. I think he’s waiting for God’s plan to come to fruition.”

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