Because of term limits, he was ineligible to seek reelection in 2014[1] and was succeeded by fellow Cabot Republican, Tim Lemons, a civil engineer.
[6] He won on a secret vote of fifty-two to forty-five against a more moderate fellow Republican, Terry Rice of Waldron in Scott County.
Carter received a score of 89 from the Advance Arkansas Institute on issues of smaller government, individual freedom and lower taxes, ranking among the 10 most conservative members of the House.
[7] Carter depended on bipartisan support to win because his party controls only fifty-one of the one hundred House seats.
However, he declined to run for governor and instead endorsed the party's unsuccessful 2006 nominee for the post, former U.S. Representative Asa Hutchinson, who is also a former United States Secretary of Homeland Security.