Jason Carter has written a book about serving in the Peace Corps, and he has waged a campaign for governor of Georgia. But he is best known as a spokesman for his famous grandfather.
Carter delivered a speech Tuesday at the Democratic National Convention on behalf of former President Jimmy Carter, whom he knows as Paw Paw.
The younger Carter is the son of Jack Carter, the eldest of the four children of Jimmy Carter and the late Rosalynn Carter, who died in 2023. Jimmy Carter, nearing his 100th birthday on Oct. 1, remains in hospice care in his hometown of Plains.
Jason Carter has often given updates on his grandfather’s health and his continued interest in politics, telling The Atlanta Journal-Constitution that his grandfather recently said he’s more interested in voting for the next president than his upcoming birthday.
“I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,” the former president told his son Chip, Jason Carter said.
Here are four things to know about Jason Carter:
- Like his grandfather, he served in the state Senate and ran for governor. Carter was elected to a Senate seat from DeKalb County in metro Atlanta, serving from 2010 to 2015. He was the 2014 Democratic nominee for governor but lost to incumbent Republican Nathan Deal.
- Since March 2015, he has been chairman of the board of trustees at the Carter Center near downtown Atlanta, which turned 40 in 2022. The Carter Center’s mission involves advocacy and research concerning human rights, advancing democracy and improving health around the planet.
- After college, he served in the Peace Corps in South Africa and wrote a book about it. While there, he learned Zulu, according to The Trust for Public Land. (In an introduction to the 2002 memoir “Power Lines,“ Jimmy Carter wrote about his mother Lillian’s time with the Peace Corps in India.)
- Jason Carter received an undergraduate degree from Duke University and a law degree from the University of Georgia. He is a partner with Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore.
