Jimmy Carter of racial segregation and support the growing civil rights movement. He became an activist within the Democratic Party. From 1963 to 1967, Carter served in the Georgia State Senate, and in 1970, he was elected as Governor of Georgia, defeating former Governor Carl Sanders in the Democratic primary on an anti-segregation platform advocating affirmative action for ethnic minorities. Carter remained as governor until 1975. Despite being a dark horse candidate little-known outside of Georgia at the start of the campaign, Carter won the 1976 Democratic presidential nomination. In the general election, Carter ran as an outsider and narrowly defeated incumbent
Jimmy Carter would lose, noting the differing circumstances of the political climate from when he was still an active politician. As the primary continued, Carter stated he would prefer Trump over his main rival Ted Cruz, though rebuked the Trump campaign in remarks during the primary, and in his address to the 2016 Democratic National Convention. In the Democratic primary, Carter voted for Senator Bernie Sanders, and in the general election, voted for Hillary Clinton. In October 2017, however, Carter defended President Trump in an interview with The New York Times, criticizing the media's coverage of him. "I think the media have