Jason Carter (South Africa 1998-2000) Seeks Georgia Governorship

Jason Carter, who as you know is the grandson of former president Jimmy Carter, and just as importantly (in my mind) the great-grandson of Lillian Carter (India 1967-69) is in a ‘toss up’ election in Georgia against the Republican Gov Nathan Deal. A recent poll has Jason ahead by several % points; other polls has the race a tossup.

Deal has raised something like $8 million; Jason has raised $1.9 million. This governor’s race is running in tandem with a U.S. Senate contest, in which Democrat Michelle Nunn, the daughter of former Sen. Sam Nunn, will run against one or the other of two Republicans in a July runoff.

Georgia is a Republican state. The state hasn’t elected a Democratic governor since 1998 or a Democratic senator since 2000.

To win, Jason will need blacks and Hispanic voters, whose number have been growing rapidly in the state, as well as liberals and independents. He also has to win more rural white voters–who for years have voted mainly for Republicans.

Jason, however, has moved to the right in his views, adopting conservative positions, such as backing a law recently signed by the governor that will allow gun owners to carry their weapons in churches, bars, airports, and other places unless expressly prohibited by the property owners. (That’s all we need, more guns!)

The young Carter is also running without mentioning his grandfather, the former president, saying, “At the end of the day the election is going to be about the vision for the future of the sate, about what a we’re doing for our kids, and not about who my grandparents are.”

Well, if you can’t mention Jimmy, Jason, why don’t you talk about Lillian. She put herself out there in India with the Peace Corps and is the author of  Away From Home: Letters to My Family (Simon & Schuster, 1977)