Former President Jimmy Carter is “talking politics again” after Vice President Kamala Harris rose to the top of the Democratic nomination list.

“After my grandmother died, he had a pretty long depression during which he was not very active,” said his eldest grandson, Jason Carter. The Washington Post. “But now he’s talking about politics again.”

Two members of the Carter family told the newspaper that his health had deteriorated following the death of his wife, former first lady Rosalynn Carter, in November last year and that he had been in hospice care for 18 months.

When President Joe Biden announced that he would not run for re-election, he said, “That’s sad.”

But lately he has been talking more about the 2024 White House race and engaging with others, apparently buoyed by the progress of Harris’ campaign.

James Carter III, who calls himself “Chip,” said The publisher that the former president saw all the speeches at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.

“He thought Michelle Obama was the best, and he thought Kamala was great, too,” the president’s son told the newspaper.

Carter celebrates his 100th birthday on October 1 and has several events planned, including a concert in Atlanta and a 100-mile bike ride near his hometown of Plains, Georgia.

Chip Carter told his father that many believe he is trying to stay alive to see his birthday, but the former president disputed that view.

“He said he didn’t care. It’s just a birthday. He said it was important to him to vote for Kamala Harris,” Chip Carter said The post.

Carter’s home state of Georgia is one of the key swing states that will decide the outcome of the 2024 election. In 2020, Biden won the state by less than one percentage point. The Carter family said The publisher that the former president is looking forward to casting his mail-in ballot for Harris.

“He doesn’t believe Donald Trump should be president again,” Chip Carter told the newspaper.

Nobody knows how long Carter will live. Jason Carter tells The post, “I really think at this point he’s given up on the idea of ​​being in control. I think he’s waiting for God’s plan to take its course.”

On his late wife’s birthday, August 18, Carter was taken to her grave near a pond at their home.

“He looked at her tombstone and I started talking and he told me to be quiet,” Chip Carter said.

The former president sat in front of the grave without saying a word for about twenty minutes.

“No doubt he was praying, but it could also have just been a conversation with his mother,” Chip Carter added.

The next day, the Democratic National Convention began. He was shielded from the television news, especially the war between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. But he was not going to miss the convention.

“It took me almost all day to watch the previous evening’s session of Congress, with a few breaks,” said Chip Carter The post. “He is very interested in this campaign.”

Carter was the first president to appoint a black woman to the cabinet: he appointed Patricia Roberts Harris to head the Department of Housing and Urban Development.