Texas Land Commission George P. Bush announced his bid to become the state's attorney general on Wednesday.
Bush is the son of former Florida Governor Jeb Bush and the only member of the Bush family who is an avowed supporter of former President Donald Trump. If Bush is successful, he would oust current GOP Attorney General Ken Paxton, whose tenure in office was mired by corruption scandals long before he helped lead an effort to overturn the results of the 2020 presidential election in Trump's favor.
"We have a web of corruption and lies that affects one of the highest offices in our land and it's time for a change," Bush told supporters gathered in Austin. "I am proud to announce I am a Republican candidate to be the next Texas attorney general.... I do so because enough is enough, Ken. You've brought way too much scandal and too little integrity to this office."
"We need an attorney general that's above reproach, not under criminal indictment for securities fraud and under FBI investigation for bribery and corruption," he continued. "We need an attorney general stacking up mug shots of hardened criminals and gangs and networks in our state, not an attorney general that's stacking up mugshots of himself."
Bush supports Trump despite the former president mercilessly attacking his father and other family members during the 2016 GOP presidential primaries. Matthew Dowd, the chief strategist for former President George W. Bush's 2004 campaign, called the younger Bush's support for Trump "a really sad tale" during a Wednesday interview on CNN, accusing him of "abandoning" his family to "suck up to Donald Trump."
Trump repeatedly referred to Jeb Bush as "low energy" during the primaries. Even after winning the presidency as a Republican, there seemed to be no love lost between Trump and most of the Bush family. Trump bragged about usurping the "Bush Dynasty" in a 2018 tweet, while former President George H.W. Bush was quoted as calling Trump a "blowhard" in a 2017 book authored by presidential historian Mark K. Updegrove.
Regardless, George P. Bush made sure that his support for Trump did not go unnoticed during a campaign ad released on Wednesday. The ad features a clip of Bush shaking hands with the former president while saying "like President Trump, I will not sit idly by while our freedoms are under attack." Bush also mentioned Trump during his campaign announcement speech.
"President Trump was absolutely right when he said, 'drain the swamp,' does anyone remember that? Because we have way too much corruption in Washington, D.C.," Bush told the crowd at one point, eliciting a tepid response. "Where else can somebody like Hunter Biden get fabulously wealthy and jeopardize national security at the same time?"
Newsweek reached out to the Texas General Land Office for comment.
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Aila Slisco is a Newsweek night reporter based in New York. Her focus is on reporting national politics, where she ... Read more
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