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Kentucky lawmakers react to passing of former President Jimmy Carter

Jimmy Carter, the peanut farmer who won the presidency in the wake of the Watergate scandal and Vietnam War, endured humbling defeat after one tumultuous term and then redefined life after the White House as a global humanitarian and winning the Nobel Peace Prize, has died. He was 100 years old.

Reactions have poured in from around the world.

Here in Kentucky Governor Andy Beshear posted:

"Jimmy Carter was a true American — he lived through his faith and values each and every day, lifting up his neighbors and serving our great country through kindness and compassion. Let us all learn from him and honor his memory by leading with love. Britainy and I are praying for the entire Carter family and our country as we mourn the loss of this American hero."

Senator Mitch McConnell released a statement that reads:

“Elaine and I join the Senate and the nation in mourning the passing of our 39th president, Jimmy Carter.

“President Carter lived a truly American dream. A devoutly religious peanut farmer from small-town Georgia volunteered to serve his country in uniform. He found himself manning cutting-edge submarines hundreds of feet beneath the ocean. He returned home and saved the family farm before feeling drawn to a different sort of public service. And less than 15 years after his first campaign for the state Senate, his fellow Americans elected him leader of the free world.

“Jimmy Carter’s character and commitment, just like his crops, were fruits of all-American soil. After every season when life led him to lofty service far from home, he came back home again, determined to plow his unique experiences and influence into helping others; into building and teaching and volunteering; into further enriching the same rich soil that had made his own life possible.

“President Carter served during times of tension and uncertainty, both at home and abroad. But his calm spirit and deep faith seemed unshakeable. Jimmy Carter served as our commander-in-chief for four years, but he served as the beloved, unassuming Sunday school teacher at Maranatha Baptist Church in Plains, Georgia for forty. And his humble devotion leaves us little doubt which of those two important roles he prized the most.

“As Jimmy Carter is reunited with his beloved Rosalynn, our thoughts and prayers are with their children, Jack, Chip, Jeff, and Amy, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and the millions of Americans whose lives were touched by his service. We join them in mourning, but also in celebrating that Jimmy Carter is now reaping an eternal harvest in Heaven.”

KY Secretary Michael Adams posted on X:

“In 1980 I was Ronald Reagan’s strongest 4-year-old advocate, but in time I’ve come to appreciate and admire the President, and man, Jimmy Carter. He lived out his faith in the political arena and afterward to an extent that too few self-proclaimed Christians do. Rest in peace.”

The longest-lived American president died on Sunday, more than a year after entering hospice care, at his home in the small town of Plains, Georgia, where he and his wife, Rosalynn, who died at 96 in November 2023, spent most of their lives, The Carter Center said.

“Our founder, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, passed away this afternoon in Plains, Georgia,” the center said in posting about his death on the social media platform X. It added in a statement that he died peacefully, surrounded by his family.

Karyn Czar joined the WUKY News team July 1, 2013, but she's no stranger to radio.