Vice President Kamala Harris honored former President Jimmy Carter’s long legacy and lasting impact in a eulogy on Tuesday, Jan. 7, only two months after earning his vote in the 2024 presidential election.
“I was in middle school when Jimmy Carter was elected president, and I vividly recall how my mother admired him,” Harris, 60, said. “How much she admired his strength of character, his honesty, his integrity, his work ethic and determination, his intelligence and his generosity of spirit.”
The vice president continued, saying, “We have heard much today and in recent days about President Carter’s impact in the four decades after he left the White House. Jimmy Carter established a new model for what it means to be a former president and leaves an extraordinary post-presidential legacy.”
Related: Jimmy Carter’s Presidency Was Cut Short by Crisis, but His Post-White House Life Made Him an Icon
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Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a eulogy for President Jimmy Carter at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 7, 2025
Harris ran through Carter’s many accomplishments with The Carter Center and called him a president “ahead of his time” for creating a comprehensive energy policy, passing legislation to protect the environment and grow national parks, and establishing the Department of Education, which may soon be dismantled under President-elect Donald Trump.
She also acknowledged the diversity that he brought to the White House.
“He was a president who, between the years of 1977 and 1981, appointed more Black Americans to the federal bench than all of his predecessors combined, and appointed five times as many women,” she noted. “And in the wake of Watergate, Jimmy Carter passed historic ethics legislation to help rebuild Americans’ faith in government.”
Related: Jimmy Carter Fulfills Final Wish by Casting Ballot for Kamala Harris: ‘It Was a Good Morning for Him’
Harris finished the speech by addressing the former president’s character, saying, “Throughout his life and career, Jimmy Carter retained a fundamental decency and humility.”
“James Earl Carter Jr. loved our country. He lived his faith, he served the people, and he left the world better than he found it,” she continued. “And in the end, Jimmy Carter’s work and those works speak for him louder than any tribute we can offer. May his life be a lesson for the ages and a beacon for the future.”
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Second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Vice President Kamala Harris stand beside President Jimmy Carter’s casket on Jan. 7, 2025
Carter’s remains arrived at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday afternoon, where he will lie in state until Thursday morning.
When his casket reached the Capitol rotunda, a small service was held in his honor that was attended by the Carter family, members of Congress, Supreme Court justices and various other officials.
Harris was asked to deliver a eulogy, as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, who are both Republican. President Joe Biden is expected to speak at the formal funeral service on Thursday.
Related: Jimmy Carter’s Grandson Says Kamala Harris Carries Grandpa’s Legacy: ‘She Knows What’s Right and She Fights for It’
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Jimmy Carter’s casket arrives at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 7, 2025
The Carter family was vocal in their support for Harris as she pursued a historic presidential campaign — and according to relatives, President Carter himself expressed excitement about the barrier-breaking vice president long before his death on Dec. 29.
When Carter’s son Chip asked him last year if he wanted to live until his 100th birthday, the former president said, “I’m only trying to make it to vote for Kamala Harris,” according to his grandson Jason.
Carter had been in hospice care for a year and a half at the time — with good and bad days, his grandson Jason Carter said — but as the election neared, the former president grew “more alert and interested in politics,” Jason told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Related: Saying Goodbye to Jimmy Carter: See All the Moving Photos from the Former President’s Funeral Services
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Jimmy Carter makes his final public appearance on Nov. 19, 2023, at wife Rosalynn’s funeral
The former president fulfilled his final wish when he filled out an absentee ballot for Harris on Oct. 16, which was later placed in a dropbox at the Sumter County Courthouse.
“I think he feels good,” Chip, 74, said of his father casting the ballot for Harris. “It was a good morning for him and good for us that he got it done.”
Related: Jimmy Carter’s Grandson Credits Stubbornness with Keeping Him Alive: ‘He’s Never Given Up on Anything’
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Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024
Earlier in the year at the 2024 Democratic National Convention, Jason shared why he and his grandfather supported Harris’ presidential campaign.
“Kamala Harris carries my grandfather’s legacy,” Jason said on stage.
“She knows what is right, and she fights for it. She understands that leadership is about service, not about selfishness,” he continued. “That you can show strength and demonstrate decency. And that you can get a whole lot more done with a smile than with a scowl.”
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