Who is late US president Jimmy Carter’s grandson, Jason Carter? The 49-year-old Duke graduate served in the Peace Corps before entering politics, and called his 100-year-old grandfather ‘stubborn’
From his experience in the Peace Corps in South Africa to his political aspirations in the US state of Georgia, Jason Carter is following in his grandfather’s footsteps
The 39th president of the United States Jimmy Carter – who died yesterday at the age of 100 – wanted to live long enough to vote in the 2024 American elections. After he entered hospice care last year, his family thought he had weeks to live. His longevity, according to his grandson Jason, was because of his faith in God and being “stubborn”.
The young Carter went on to become a spokesperson for his family, providing regular updates on his grandfather to the media right until the end.
“My family understands that we shared him and his legacy with the United States, with the rest of the world, and [we] appreciate … all of the accolades, respect, affection that comes to him, and all the things that he meant publicly,” Jason Carter said about his grandfather on CBC News programme The National as the news of Jimmy Carter’s death broke to the world. “But privately, he was a grandfather. He and my grandmother [Rosalynn Carter, who died in November 2023] both have always gone back to this tiny little town in Georgia called Plains with 600 people. And that’s where they’re gonna go and be buried. … They are regular folks from there, and at the end of all of the stuff, that’s where they’re gonna stay.”
But just who is the late Jimmy Carter’s grandson, Jason Carter? Here’s what to know about the man who served in the Peace Corps in South Africa and went on to have political ambitions of his own.
The Carter legacy
Born in August 1975, Jason is the first grandchild to Jimmy and Rosalynn Carter. He is the son of John William “Jack” Carter and Judy Langford, who is the daughter of Georgian politician James Langford. According to Atlanta Magazine, Jason’s parents divorced in 1989 and his mum remarried pastor Robert Thompson. The family moved around a lot with Jason commenting, “We were always transplants.”
He went to Duke University
Jason reportedly graduated with a double major in philosophy and political science at Duke University. Jimmy Carter gave the commencement speech at Jason’s graduation in 1997, with Duke reporting that he told graduates to “share what we have with others”. Jason then went to the University of Georgia School of Law, graduating with a Juris Doctor in 2004. According to Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore where Jason is a partner, he has reportedly won some of the largest verdicts and settlements in the history of Georgia.