ATLANTA — For Sen. Raphael Warnock, President Jimmy Carter was a hero he got to know in real life.
“Jimmy CarterAmerican is one of my favorite people. He is an American hero. And I’m so proud that he’s from our great state of Georgia,” Warnock said.
Even traveling down to Plains to pray with the Carter family as the president was in hospice care in his home.
His final visits with Jimmy Carter was as a pastor, not a politician.
“To pray with him in the months when he was in hospice, to visit with him, to read scripture, to pray with him, the Christian brother, is a deep honor, and it’s something that continues to bless my life and inspire my approach to leadership,” Warnock told Channel 2 investigative reporter Justin Gray.
Members of Congress were among the first who were able to pay their respects at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday as former President Jimmy Carter lies in state.
RELATED STORIES:
- Former President Jimmy Carter now lying in state in the Rotunda of the U.S. Capitol
- Jimmy Carter makes one last journey to Washington, DC to lie in state at US Capitol
- Photos: Jimmy Carter’s final return to Washington
- Former deputy press secretary for Jimmy Carter remembers his time with him
For Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff that means thinking about the works of the Carter Center after Carter’s term as president was over.
“I think that his work in his post-presidency advocating for free and fair elections around the world, where he demonstrated his continued capacity to make a difference, to have an impact,” Ossoff said.
Georgia Republican Rep. Buddy Carter -- no relation to the former President – was also an admirer of Jimmy Carter and his commitment to service.
“I think people will remember Jimmy Carter more for his faith and for his politics. He was really a great example for everyone to follow, particularly for politicians to follow, showing that you could keep your moral compass intact and still serve the American people,” Carter said.
That commitment to embodying his faith is something Warnock spoke of as well.
“He did not weaponize his faith. And I think that’s such an important moral lesson in this moment,” Warnock said.
For Warnock, his relationship with Carter predates his involvement with politics.
Historic Ebenezer Baptist Church and the King family had a more than five-decade relationship with Carter and played an important role in his becoming president.
“Martin Luther King, senior Daddy King, as he was affectionately called, put his arms around President Carter, politically and literally, and took him around the African-American community at a time when people weren’t so sure about this Southern white governor coming out of a different era,” Warnock said.
Ever the pastor, Warnock found a life lesson in an old, tattered chair in the president’s home office in Plains.
“I mean, it was rickety,” Warnock told Gray. “He continued to sit in that chair and do the work. Jimmy Carter understood that it’s not where you sit, it’s what you do.”
Warnock also told a story about Daddy King that he confirmed was true from President Carter himself.
Daddy King called the White House and asked for the president.
When told he was Carter unavailable, he said ‘Have him call me back in 15 minutes.” And Carter did.
President Carter will lie in repose until his state funeral on Thursday when he will return to Georgia for a family funeral and burial.
©2025 Cox Media Group
