Jason Carter wins Senate seat

34-year-old Jason Carter, Jimmy Carter's oldest grandson, won a seat in the Georgia State Senate on May 11.

Carter was elected to represent the 42nd district, which includes Decatur, Avondale Estates, Chamblee and Stone Mountain, during a special election held to replace David Adelman.

Carter, an attorney at Bondurant, Mixon & Elmore, is the first of his grandfather's descendents to win a political position since President Carter was elected in 1976. His father, Jack Carter, unsuccessfully ran for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in Nevada in 2006.

Key components to Carter's campaign included economic hardships, Georgia's schools and transportation.

According to his campaign's website, Carter was born at Emory Hospital in Decatur, Ga. and attended Duke University. After college, he joined the U.S. Peace Corps and travelled to South Africa, which inspired his book Power Lines: Two Years on South Africa's Borders, published by National Geographic. Afterwards, Carter attended the University of Georgia School of Law and graduated summa cum laude.

Carter announced his intention of campaigning on December 9, 2009, contingent upon whether or not Adelman's nomination by the Obama administration to the position of ambassador to Singapore was approved by the Senate. Adelman was confirmed on March 19.

Adelman is Jewish, as is a large percentage of the 42nd district, and many were concerned that the elder Carter's relations with Israel and Palestine would give the younger Carter trouble along the campaign trail.

Carter, however, gained 65.6 percent of the vote against Tom Stubbs, fellow Democrat, who won 22.9 percent. Carter also faced Steve Patrick, Independent, who ended with 7.5 percent, and David Montane, Libertarian, 3.9 percent.

Because of this, Stubbs has also removed his name from the state senate ballot for district 42 in the July Democratic primary, leaving Carter running unopposed.

Stubbs is a private practice attorney in Decatur and ran, both unsuccessfully, for DeKalb County Superior Court judge in 2008 and Decatur City Commission in 1999.