Jimmy Carter's grandson: Next governor of Georgia?

Jason Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter, plans to run for governor of Georgia next year. Will Jimmy Carter campaign for Jason Carter?

Jason Carter, the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter and a state lawmaker from Atlanta, said Thursday that he plans to run for governor of Georgia next year, energizing Democrats coming off a 2010 election in which the GOP claimed every statewide office.

Carter's decision resets the 2014 race as Republican Gov. Nathan Deal seeks re-election. Deal already faces two primary opponents and will now have to deal with a Carter campaign that is likely to grab national attention, be well-financed, and criticize the governor's ethics and leadership.

Carter said concerns about education and the economy were at the center of his decision to run.

"I've traveled around the state, and people believe our education system is on the brink. People believe the economy is not working for the middle class, and people want to see an honest government that works for everyone," Carter said in an interview with The Associated Press early Thursday. "As a state we can't wait four years to start getting those right."

Georgia Democrats have been dealing with poor state party finances and a lack of political firepower since Republicans claimed every statewide office in 2010. There's been much internal optimism about the 2016 presidential race and the 2018 governor's race as being opportunities for Democrats, but Carter is clearly betting changing demographics in the state could be enough to carry him to the governor's mansion next year.

Carter, 38, was first elected to the Georgia Senate in May 2010 and has been at the forefront among Democrats on issues like education and redistricting. Carter said he plans to stay in the state Senate during his gubernatorial bid. His decision to run for governor was first reported by The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.

A big question will be how his grandfather will factor into the campaign.

When the younger Carter first ran for office, the former president didn't start campaigning until a few days before the election. At the time, Carter told The Associated Press he wanted to prove that he could do the hard work on his own and didn't want to be "trading on my family name."

The younger Carter's path would seek to follow that of his grandfather. Jimmy Carter served two terms in the Georgia Senate before running for governor. Although Jimmy Carter lost his first bid in 1966, won four years later.

While Democrats once dominated state politics, the Republicans have been the party in power since 2002 when Sonny Perdue became the first Republican governor of Georgia since Reconstruction. The state has voted for every Republican presidential nominee since 2000, although President Barack Obama garnered 47 percent of voters in 2008. Last year, Obama received 45.5 percent of the vote.

Also on the ballot in 2014 will be Democrat Michelle Nunn, who is running for U.S. Senate. Nunn also hails from a prominent political family; her father is former U.S. Sam Nunn, who represented Georgia for years. Democrats are clearly hoping a strong slate with both Nunn and Carter on the ballot and an emphasis on economic and education issues will be able to connect with not only big-city voters but those who hail from rural parts of the state.

On education issues, in particular, Carter has already challenged the governor on an effort to address a financial shortfall facing the state's popular HOPE scholarship program, which is funded by lottery revenues.

Challenging Deal in the Republican primary are state schools Superintendent John Barge and Dalton Mayor David Pennington. On the Democratic side, former state Sen. Connie Stokes has also announced her intent to run for governor.

Carter, who lives in Atlanta and represents Decatur and Atlanta's eastside neighborhoods, is married with two sons.

___

Follow Christina Almeida Cassidy on Twitter: http://twitter.com/AP_Christina

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Jimmy Carter's grandson: Next governor of Georgia?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Latest-News-Wires/2013/1107/Jimmy-Carter-s-grandson-Next-governor-of-Georgia
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe