Jason Carter (politician)

Jason James Carter (born August 7, 1975) is an American lawyer and politician from the state of Georgia. Carter is a former state senator and was the Democratic nominee for Georgia governor in the 2014 election. He lost to incumbent Nathan Deal. Carter is the grandson of former Georgia Governor and United States President Jimmy Carter.

Jimmy Carter with his grandson, Jason Carter, and Amy Carter in a tree house on the White House grounds

Carter was born at Emory University Hospital in 1975. A 9th-generation Georgian, he is the grandson of former President Jimmy Carter and the son of Jack Carter and Judy Langford, daughter of former Georgia State Senator James Beverly Langford. After graduating from high school, Carter attended Duke University where he obtained a Bachelor of Arts with a double major in philosophy and political science.

Peace Corps

After graduating from Duke University, Carter served in the Peace Corps stationed in South Africa. He lived in Lochiel, South Africa, where he worked on education issues in rural areas. He learned to speak Zulu and Siswati. He wrote a book, titled Power Lines, about his experiences there.

Legal career

Carter later attended the University of Georgia School of Law, graduating summa cum laude with a Juris Doctor in 2004.

He is currently a partner at the law firm of Bondurant, Mixson & Elmore in Atlanta. He has represented the National Football League Players Association and won the Stuart Eizenstat Young Lawyer Award, given by the Anti-Defamation League, for his pro bono work defending voting rights.

2010 election

In a May 11, 2010 special election, Carter was elected to represent Georgia’s 42nd district in the State Senate. He won with 65.6% of the vote. The seat had been vacated by David Adelman, who became the United States Ambassador to Singapore. Carter is the first member of his family to win elected office since his grandfather, Jimmy Carter, was elected President of the United States. Carter was later re-elected to the Senate in the 2010 and 2012 general elections.

Legislation

In the Senate, Carter authored legislation to require the state budget to be presented in two parts: first, a separate education budget, and then a budget to fund the rest of state government.

Carter also sponsored ethics reform legislation, including proposals to limit gifts from lobbyists to legislators, to create and fully fund an independent ethics commission, and to create a non-partisan redistricting commission.

In 2012, he was awarded Common Cause’s Democracy Award for his work on promoting ethics reform.

In 2014, Carter voted for House Bill (H.B.) 60, the Safe Carry Protection Act which opponents nicknamed the "guns everywhere" bill.The Safe Carry Protection Act takes effect on July 1, 2014, and permits licensed gun owners to carry guns into many public and private places. The law is supported by the Georgia Baptist Convention which includes 3,600 Baptist churches in Georgia in favor of increased church autonomy, but is not supported by Catholic or Episcopalian church leaders.

Committee assignments

In 2013, Carter commissioned a poll of a potential race against Nathan Deal in the 2014 Georgia gubernatorial election. He subsequently announced that he would run for the Democratic nomination.

During his campaign, Carter has advocated increased investment in education and technical training to help grow Georgia’s film and television industry. “Georgia has seen enormous growth in film and television production, but that success is threatened unless we build the skilled workforce to fill these jobs.” Carter has said, and added “After years of cuts to HOPE and to our schools, industries across the state simply cannot find the skilled workers they need to fill their jobs.”

Polls suggested a surprisingly close race given Georgia’s recent electoral history. Real Clear Politics upgraded the race from “Leans GOP” to “Toss Up.” Carter also out-raised the incumbent Deal in the second quarter.

Carter said that people in Georgia have the right to have the Sons of Confederate Veterans-backed license plate, which features an image of the Confederate flag and that he would not try to stop them if elected.

During his campaign, Carter has reaffirmed his support for the legalization of same-sex marriage, stating, “Marriage equality is something I believe in and have [believed in] for a very, very, very long time since before I got into politics.”

The candidate in a WSB-TV debate which aired live on C-SPAN criticized the performance of Governor Deal in handling the state economy by stating that 380,000 Georgians were looking for jobs and state government support for public education had dropped.

Carter lost his 2014 bid for the office of Governor to incumbent Nathan Deal.

Jason's wife, Kate, is a high school teacher, and former journalist with the Athens Banner-Herald, where she won several awards. Jason and Kate have two sons, Henry (b. 2006) and Thomas (b. 2008).