Jimmy Carter's grandson to run for Georgia Gov.
Updated 11/7/2013 at 12:45pm ET
(CNN) - The grandson of former President Jimmy Carter is hoping to follow in his famous grandfather's footsteps, as he launches a bid for Georgia governor.
Democratic state Senator Jason Carter is expected to formally announce his candidacy Thursday morning at an event in Atlanta, but he's already quoted on his campaign website as saying "I am running for Governor because I believe in Georgia at its best."
"In my years in the State Senate, I have fought to grow the middle class and help small businesses; to support public schools and make higher education affordable; and to reform our ethics laws," adds Carter.
"That is what I will continue to do as your Governor."
Carter is expected to become the Democratic frontrunner in the bid to unseat first-term Republican Gov. Nathan Deal, who's already facing two GOP challengers. While Republicans have dominated statewide elections in Georgia over the past decade, Democrats are confident that the state's changing demographics will make them more competitive.
One of Deal's GOP challengers seemed painfully aware of that changing dynamic in a statement released Thursday.
"The Democrats are coming out of the woodwork because they know the vulnerability of our current governor," David Pennington, mayor of Dalton, Georgia, said in the statement.
"If we want to keep Georgia a red state, we cannot have a candidate at the top of the Republican ticket tarnished by ethical problems and who has a poor economic record, highlighted by our state remaining at the top of the unemployment rankings."
Carter was first elected to the Georgia state Senate in 2010. Now, he's looking at taking the next step, as his famous grandfather did.
Jimmy Carter won a seat in the state Senate in 1962 before winning election as Georgia governor in 1970. Carter, of course, went on to win the White House in 1976, defeating incumbent GOP President Gerald Ford.
Carter is not the only famous Democratic name seeking high office in Georgia in 2014. Michelle Nunn is pursuing the same U.S. Senate seat her famous father, Sam Nunn, held for 24 years.
Jason Carter will discuss his gubernatorial bid on CNN's "Erin Burnett Out Front" Thursday night at 7 p.m. ET.
A lawyer by day, Carter first announced his candidacy in an exclusive interview with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
–CNN Political Editor Paul Steinhauser and CNN's Ashley Killough contributed to this story.
I am amazed at the Obama Dministration's inept handling of the Healthcare.gov website roll out. They are smart but they clearly got lazy and let the hubris / pride of those executive beneath the President get in the way. HHS Sercretary Sebelius should have had an end-to-end tested system ready to go on AUGUST 1. It should have been tested with Red Team / Blue Team peer design reviews by people from i-tunes, Amazon, Cisco, Google, and e_surance /Progressive.
For the 2014 elections, Democrats had better start now to deliver, through Oganizing For America [OFA] micro-targeting, RECORD voter turnout of women, blacks, latinos, gays and thinking progressive white men. These email/ text lists age and there is little value in letting them decay without maximizing their use. This is how Mr. Obama can help himself & the Democratic party in Georgia [Nunn & Carter] Arkansas [Pryor] and other traditonally red states. Attack quietly.
"a community organizer, with a college degree"
And a law degree from Harvard, where he was president of the Law Review and eventually a Constitutional Law professor, and 8 years as a state senator and a term as a US Senator. But I understand...the game for the GOP/Teatroll/MSM symbiote is to pretend all those good things don't exist for Obama while they pretend all the bad things about Christie don't exist too. Don't worry, we get it.
He would make a great Governor .
Smart Guy.
"With the NSA at their fingertips, they can't even get the correct number for the candidate they are so happy to congratulate. These geniuses are running the country.
WOW!!"
Yeah! They're not abusing their power and sifting through NSA records like any good, corrupt official would do!?!?! How horrifying!
"As for the women, well, when a guy starts waving a "magic wand" at them, I suspect they feel repelled."
Which makes the closeness of the VA AG race all the more appalling...and Cuccinelli's power over the recount process all the more terrifying. Obenshain proposed legislation in 2009 that would have required any woman suffering a miscarriage to report it to the POLICE within 24 hours or face prosecution and possible jail time. He's actually WORSE than Cuccinelli in the misogyny department and it's a massive fail by Dems/liberals in terms of down-ballot voting that he might become AG. He's disgusting.
@Sniffit,
"Which makes the closeness of the VA AG race all the more appalling...and Cuccinelli's power over the recount process all the more terrifying. Obenshain proposed legislation in 2009 that would have required any woman suffering a miscarriage to report it to the POLICE within 24 hours or face prosecution and possible jail time. He's actually WORSE than Cuccinelli in the misogyny department and it's a massive fail by Dems/liberals in terms of down-ballot voting that he might become AG. He's disgusting."
We are in sad accord. It pains me to say this, but the evidence suggests that, well, at least 2% of Dems/liberals don't take elections all that seriously. They vote for the top of the ticket and then run out of the booth thinking their job is done. True, Dems groups could have mounted a strong attack against Obenshain's horrifying miscarriage proposal (did they, I wonder?), but should that even be necessary? Herring's the Dem - VOTE for him people! Sheesh!
"a community organizer, with a college degree"
-----------------–
Tea Party types call it community organizer.
Establishment Republicans call it ground game.
"While it doesn't settle the Blue/Purple thing, according to today's Washington Post, Cuccinnelli lost the single woman demographic group by 42 points, and married women by 9 points. Holy cow! The GOP is now toxic to women."
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You paint with a very broad brush.Exit polls in NJ showed no gender gap whatsoever. And all you have to do is look to San Diego for a democrat who wasn't exactly kind to women. So while THIS particular candidate may have turned off the female vote, saying that the entire GOP is "toxic to women" is more wishful tinking than anything.
I'm from La.; I sure wish we had a Gov. that WANTED the job that he was elected for instead of constantly scanning the National Political Horizons. Jindal has spent more time out of La. than in La. during his 2nd Term.