Representative Buddy Carter, a former pharmacy owner who brands himself as a “MAGA warrior,” is one of three top candidates in the Republican primary for Senate in Georgia on Tuesday.
Here are five things to know about Mr. Carter, 68, of St. Simons Island on the southeastern Georgia coast.
1. He is a Trump acolyte. Mr. Carter voted to overturn the 2020 presidential election, introduced a resolution in support of Mr. Trump receiving the Nobel Peace Prize and has said he has no points of disagreement with the president. He also once introduced a measure to authorize Mr. Trump to enter into talks to acquire Greenland and rename it “Red, White, and Blueland.” All three candidates running in the primary have sought to align themselves with the president, who has not endorsed a candidate.
2. He has vocally backed the war with Iran. Mr. Carter has been forceful in supporting Mr. Trump’s decision to start the war, describing it as “very necessary,” even as some Republicans have shied away from talking about the unpopular conflict. “What we’re paying at the gas pump is a small price to pay in order to save millions of lives in the future,” Mr. Carter told NewsNation in March, adding, “This is a painful experience at the pump right now, but that is going to stabilize.”
3. He ran a small pharmacy chain. Mr. Carter’s business, Carter’s Pharmacy Inc., included three pharmacies. He ran the business for more than three decades. He holds a B.S. in pharmacy from the University of Georgia. He was a central architect of measures, passed by Congress in February, intended to lower drug costs by placing new rules on the practices of large companies that oversee prescription benefits.
4. He has shown a bipartisan flair on energy issues. Mr. Carter has said he believes human society has an effect on climate change, and he has worked with Democrats on renewable energy legislation. He has expressed pride in efforts in Georgia to corral solar and nuclear energy. “We’ve done our part in using clean energy here,” he said in an interview.
5. He says he has been pressing Mr. Trump to endorse him. He said Friday that he last spoke to Mr. Trump about two weeks ago and that he would continue to push the president to intervene in the contest. “My hope is that he will endorse us at some point,” Mr. Carter said in the interview, but he added, “I don’t know that he will weigh in.”
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