Jimmy Carter is remembered fondly by WA leaders, but he never won here

Washington leaders on Sunday praised President Jimmy Carter for his character, environmental ethic and humanitarian work in the decades since he departed the White House.

Carter, who died Sunday at age 100, campaigned in Washington and visited as president, touring the devastation of the 1980 Mount St. Helens eruption, meeting with evacuees in Kelso and seeing the blanket of ash fallout in Spokane.

It might be hard to fathom now, given Washington’s reputation as a Democratic stronghold, but voters here were not sold on Carter during his two runs for president.

In 1976, during his successful run against President Gerald Ford, Carter drew shouts and boos from a crowd of veterans in Seattle when he pledged to pardon Vietnam War draft evaders.

Carter’s reputation has been substantially burnished in the years since he left office, thanks in large part to his post-presidential campaigns for human rights and international diplomacy. Even the committee that awarded him the Nobel Peace Prize etched into history that he “will probably not go down … as the most effective president. But he is certainly the best ex-president the country ever had.”

He was celebrated at periodic local appearances, including Democratic political fundraisers. On Sunday, Washington elected officials lauded him as a forward-thinking and honorable elder statesman.

Gov. Jay Inslee praised Carter for his support of renewable power amid the 1970s energy crisis, when the president had solar panels installed on the roof of the White House.

“Carter once told me that if we had continued his efficiency standards, we would be free of Middle East oil dependence. His dream is alive and growing. Thank you, Jimmy Carter,” Inslee said in a post on X.

U.S. Sen. Maria Cantwell remembered Carter in a statement Sunday as a man who rose from “humble rural beginnings” and who “promised and delivered Americans the truth in a time of political division and mistrust.”

Carter “was one of the first Presidents to truly understand the value of protecting and preserving our nation’s public lands and waters. We owe preservation of premiere Alaskan wilderness and many other wild places to his leadership,” Cantwell said.

U.S. Sen. Patty Murray said Carter “lived a life of public service,” including his years after leaving office.

“His kindness and compassion — whether through his philanthropy here at home or his tireless efforts to broker peace around the world — were a model for all Americans. He will be greatly missed,” Murray wrote in a statement on X.

In 1976, when Carter rose from a little-known governor of Georgia to win the presidency, he did not convince most Washington voters. Earlier that year, Carter had beaten out Washington’s U.S. Sen. Henry “Scoop” Jackson, a powerful Democrat who had been considered a leading contender early in the race for the party’s nomination.

That August, Carter spoke at an American Legion national convention held at the Seattle Center Coliseum. Wearing his Legion cap — he was a Navy veteran and Legion member — Carter said he intended to issue a “blanket pardon” to people who had evaded the military draft for Vietnam.

He said he intended to pardon people who’d evaded the draft for the Vietnam War, an action intended to put aside the nation’s steep divisions over the war. His comments were greeted with shouts of “No! No!” and boos, according to a front-page Seattle Times account of the speech.

Carter went on to defeat Ford in the November election. But Washington voters gave Carter just 46% of the vote. The state stuck with Ford, part of an electoral map that looks unrecognizable today: All of the Western U.S. (except Hawaii) voted Republican, while Carter won most of the East and Texas.

As president, Carter notably visited Washington following the eruption of Mount St. Helens, which killed 57 people, flattened and burned trees for hundreds of square miles and spread ash across the state. In a helicopter tour that took off from Portland, the president viewed the damage and met with evacuees in Kelso.

At a news conference in Portland after the tour, Carter described getting close to the mountain, seeing “extremely deep deposits of ash, the absolute and total devastation of a region that encompasses about 150 miles.”

“It’s the worst thing I have ever seen,” he said.

Carter declared a federal disaster and pledged aid to the state.

Several months later, Carter lost his reelection bid amid spiking inflation, high unemployment and the Iran hostage crisis. Washington voters joined in with the national consensus as Ronald Reagan carried 44 states. Carter received 37% of the vote in Washington. But in intervening decades, the state tilted further to the left, with no Republican presidential candidate winning here since Reagan’s reelection in 1984.

Carter has been warmly received when returning to the Pacific Northwest. In 2017, he got a standing ovation after making a surprise appearance at a political fundraiser hosted by King County Executive Dow Constantine.

On Monday, the Space Needle will fly its flag at half-staff to honor Carter’s life and legacy.