After being cast out of the national political scene by President Trump, members of the Bush family are rallying to one of their own who is considering a run for public office next year. Jonathan Bush — the cousin of President George W. Bush and the former Florida governor, Jeb Bush — was joined by his family at a fundraiser in Maine last week, where he is thinking of running for governor.
Mr. Bush is a healthcare executive who has never held public office, though the Bush family name is just about as weighty in Maine as it is in Texas. The clan has owned a compound in Kennebunkport in the southern part of the state for generations.
“He’s been fortunate to receive the support and counsel of Mainers from all over the state and all walks of life, and especially proud to have his family standing strongly by his side,” a spokesman for Mr. Bush told the local news outlet Maine Wire, confirming that the former president and former Florida governor were helping their cousin raise money.
Mr. Bush told the Bangor Daily News earlier this summer that he would run as a Republican, should he decide to get into the race. Governor Mills is term-limited and will not be able to seek a third four-year term in 2026.
“Maine is the greatest state in the nation. But one thing is clear: we’re being let down by Janet Mills and the Augusta politicians,” Mr. Bush said. “Working class Mainers are paying far too much for far too little, and our state needs a dramatic change in direction to ensure everyone is able to realize the American Dream right here in Maine.”
Mr. Bush would be the first member of his family to seek office in Maine, after his uncle and cousin served as president following their respective stints in elected offices in Texas. His grandfather, Prescott Bush, was a United States senator from Connecticut.
His younger brother may have the most intimate relationship with Mr. Trump out of all of the members of the Bush clan, however. Just days before the 2016 election, a tape was made public of Mr. Trump making lewd remarks about women to none other than Billy Bush, who was later fired from NBC’s TODAY Show because of his laughing at Mr. Trump’s comments.
If he does decide to run, Mr. Bush will not be the only political scion seeking to take Ms. Mills’s post. Maine’s junior U.S. senator, Angus King, has already endorsed his son for the Democratic gubernatorial nomination. A former state house speaker, Hannah Pingree, is being supported by her mother, Chellie Pingree, who happens to represent Maine’s first district in Congress.
Maine will be home to some of the most hotly contested races next year, with Senator Collins up for reelection and Maine’s second congressional district being one of the most competitive in the country.
Ms. Collins has yet to say if she will seek an historic sixth term representing Maine in the Senate, though she has continued to raise money over the course of this year, indicating that she will almost surely run. In the second quarter of 2025, she raked in more than $2 million for her potential campaign.
Congressman Jared Golden, a moderate Democrat, has held on to his seat in the second congressional district despite it trending even farther to the right. Mr. Trump won the district by eight points last year on the same day voters re-elected Mr. Golden. He has announced he is running for another term in 2026.
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