Former President Jimmy Carter, who turned 96 years old this week, has issued a new message of support for Democratic nominees Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. Carter’s statement emerged in the hours before Harris was scheduled to debate Vice President Mike Pence in the only scheduled vice presidential debate of this election cycle. Carter singled out Harris for particular praise, expressing his confidence that her readiness to assume the role of vice president and meet the needs of the American people while on the job would be on full display at the debate.
In his Wednesday afternoon statement, Carter said:
‘We need champions in the White House like Joe Biden and Kamala Harris who understand the needs and values of working Georgians. Kamala Harris has the talent and charisma to lead our great nation as our next Vice President, and I know Americans will see that on full display during tonight’s debate.’
Check out his statement below:
Six days after President Jimmy Carter turns 96, he releases a statement supporting @KamalaHarris in tonight's #VPDebate pic.twitter.com/Xi2L3hmPZY
— Nikki Schwab (@NikkiSchwab) October 7, 2020
The vice presidential debate on Wednesday is set to be the first match-up between presidential ticket candidates since the chaotic and somewhat disastrous debate between Donald Trump and Joe Biden last week. That first presidential debate was marked by a nearly endless stream of angry interruptions from Trump, who hardly ever let Biden finish a thought without cutting him off with some kind of belligerent rant. Across the nation, viewers expressed disgust at the president’s behavior. He acted as though he was so self-obsessed that he was unwilling to even hold a remotely stable conversation. Moderator Chris Wallace repeatedly pleaded with the president to conduct himself with decency, to no avail.
According to an Axios report that emerged in the hours before Harris and Pence squared off, the vice president was planning to “target” Biden over the Obama administration’s failure to secure the safe return of Kayla Mueller, an American who was held hostage and eventually murdered by ISIS. The vice president’s guest list included Carl and Marsha Mueller — Kayla’s parents — who spoke as part of the recent Republican National Convention, where Carl insisted that he believed that Donald Trump would have been able to secure the safe return of their daughter if he had been in charge at the time.
