The oldest living president, Former President Jimmy Carter, will be celebrating his 100th birthday on Tuesday, Oct. 1 while in hospice care.
Carter is defying the odds, with 19 months in hospice and counting. He reportedly has one more bucket list item he would like to accomplish before his last breath – the opportunity to cast his vote in the presidential election of 2024.
The former president has been receiving hospice care at his home in Plains, Georgia since Feb. 18, 2023 after battling health issues including skin cancer melanoma which eventually spread to his liver and brain, and after which he then decided against any more medical treatments.
Earlier this spring, Carter’s eldest grandson, Jason Carter announced in an update that the end was near. By June, in an interview with Southern Living, he said in an update, that his grandfather’s health hadn’t changed much as he was “no longer awake every day in his hospice journey” and that he was “experiencing the world as best he can as he continues through this process.”
According to his grandson in a more recent news report, Jimmy Carter told him: “I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris.”
Jason Carter spoke during the 2024 Democratic National Convention and said of his grandfather, “PawPaw is holding on. He is hopeful. And though his body may be weak tonight, his spirit is as strong as ever.”
Carter will have the option to cast an absentee ballot if he chooses to do so, as early as one month prior to the Nov. 5 election day, as mail-in ballots are mailed out. He has not made any public appearances since November 2023.
Georgia stands as one of the seven swing states that could be a crucial decider in the presidential race this November. The state has only voted blue for former Presidents Joe Biden in 2020 and Bill Clinton in 1992 since Carter himself was got the vote in 1976 and 1980. Carter won the presidency in 1976, but lost his re-election bid to Ronald Reagan in 1980.
James Earl Carter Jr. served as the 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. He was married for 77 years to Rosalyn Carter, before she died on Nov. 19, 2023.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Jimmy Carter turning 100 in hospice – holding on to cast final vote
