Kamala Harris Delivers Eulogy for Jimmy Carter 2 Months After Earning His Vote: 'May His Life Be a Lesson'

Mar. 15, 2025

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a eulogy (left) for former President Jimmy Carter on Jan. 7, 2025.Photo:J. Scott Applewhite/AP/Bloomberg via Getty; Arne Knudsen/Getty

US Vice President Kamala Harris delivers the eulogy during a ceremony for late former US President Jimmy Carter in the Rotunda of the US Capitol in Washington, DC, US, on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. Carter, the former Georgia peanut farmer who as president brokered a historic and lasting peace accord between Israel and Egypt in a single term marred by soaring inflation, an oil shortage and Iran’s holding of American hostages, died December 29 at 100 years of age. Photographer: J. Scott Applewhite/AP/Bloomberg via Getty Images OSLO, NORWAY - DECEMBER 10: Former US President Jimmy Carter holds up his Nobel Peace Prize December 10, 2002 in Oslo, Norway. Carter was recognized for many years of public service and urged others to work for peace during his acceptance speech. (Photo by Arne Knudsen/Getty Images)

J. Scott Applewhite/AP/Bloomberg via Getty; Arne Knudsen/Getty

Vice PresidentKamala Harrishonored former PresidentJimmy Carter’s long legacy and lasting impact in a eulogy on Tuesday, Jan. 7, only two months afterearning his votein the2024 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 forwhat it means to be a former presidentand leaves an extraordinary post-presidential legacy.”

Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a eulogy for President Jimmy Carter at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 7, 2025.Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 7: US Vice President Kamala Harris delivers a eulogy at the Lying in State Ceremony for former President Jimmy Carter at the US Capitol Rotunda on January 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. Carter’s body will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until a funeral service at the National Cathedral in Washington on January 9. Carter, the 39th President of the United States, died at the age of 100 on December 29, 2024 at his home in Plains, Georgia

Saul Loeb-Pool/Getty

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-electDonald Trump.

She also acknowledged the diversity that he brought to the federal government.

“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.”

“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.”

Second gentleman Doug Emhoff and Vice President Kamala Harris stand beside President Jimmy Carter’s casket on Jan. 7, 2025.J. Scott Applewhite-Pool/Getty

WASHINGTON, DC - JANUARY 7: Second gentleman Doug Emhoff, from left, and Vice President Kamala Harris place a wreath at the flag-draped casket of former President Jimmy Carter during a ceremony where Carter lies in state at the Capitol on January 7, 2025 in Washington, DC. Carter’s body will lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda until a funeral service at the National Cathedral in Washington on January 9. Carter, the 39th President of the United States, died at the age of 100 on December 29, 2024 at his home in Plains, Georgia. (Photo by J. Scott Applewhite-Pool/Getty Images)

J. Scott Applewhite-Pool/Getty

Carter’s remainsarrived at the U.S. Capitolin Washington, D.C., on Tuesday afternoon, where he will lie in state until Thursday morning.

Harris was asked to deliver a eulogy, as well as House SpeakerMike Johnsonand Senate Majority LeaderJohn Thune, who are both Republican. PresidentJoe Bidenis expected to speak at the formal funeral service on Thursday.

Jimmy Carter’s casket arrives at the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 7, 2025.MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty

The flag-draped casket of former US President Jimmy Carter travelling by a horse-drawn caisson arrives to the US Capitol to lie in state in Washington, DC, on January 7, 2025. Carter, the 39th President of the United States, died at the age of 100 on December 29, 2024 at his home in Plains, Georgia.

MANDEL NGAN/AFP via Getty

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 beforehis death on Dec. 29.

When Carter’s son Chip asked him last year if he wanted to live untilhis 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 theAtlanta Journal-Constitution.

Jimmy Carter makes his final public appearance on Nov. 19, 2023, at wife Rosalynn’s funeral.ALEX BRANDON/POOL/AFP via Getty

Former President Jimmy Carter departs after the funeral service for former first lady Rosalynn Carter at Maranatha Baptist Church, in Plains, Georgia, on November 29, 2023.

ALEX BRANDON/POOL/AFP via Getty

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.”

Vice President Kamala Harris speaks at the Democratic National Convention on Aug. 22, 2024.ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty

Vice President and 2024 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris waves as she arrives to speak on the fourth and last day of the Democratic National Convention (DNC) at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois, on August 22, 2024.

ROBYN BECK/AFP via Getty

Earlier in the year at the2024 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.”

source: people.com

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