John Ellis “Jeb” Bush – 2016 Presidential Candidate

2016 Presidential Candidate
2016 Presidential Candidate

John Ellis “Jeb” Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American businessman and politician who served as the 43 Governor of Florida from 1999-2007.  Bush is the second son of former President George H.W. Bush and former first lady Barbara Bush and younger brother of former President George W. Bush. Bush formally announced his decision to seek the Republican Presidential candidacy on June 15, 2015 .

Bush first ran for office in 1994. He lost the election for Governor by less than 2 percentage points to Lawton Chiles.  In 1998 Bush ran again and defeated Lieutenant Governor MacKay with 55 percent of the vote. Bush ran for re-election in 2002 and won with 56 percent of the vote to become the first two term Republican Governor (CBS News).

On December 16, 2014 Bush announced the formation of the Right to Rise PAC, a Super PAC intended to serve as an exploratory  committee and fundraising mechanism for potential candidates.  While Bush was yet to be announced as a candidate he was the first potential contender to make a move towards the 2016 election. Bush announced his “exploration” as a potential Presidential  candidate in December 2014. By doing so Bush was able to get around several campaign finance laws that limit donations that can be made to an individuals campaign and prohibit super PACs from directly coordinating with candidate’s campaigns.

Bush did not do well in the South Carolina primary and decided to withdraw from the Presidential race February 20, 2016.



Miller, Zeke J. (July 9, 2015). “How Jeb Bush’s Super PAC Will Spend $103 Million”. Retrieved April 4, 2016.

“Jeb Bush to announce 2016 bid on June 15”. June 4, 2014.   Retrieved April 4, 2016.

Frumin, Aliyah. “Jeb Bush exploits major loophole in campaign finance rule”, MSNBC (May 2, 2015).

Photo courtesy of Wikipedia.


17 Thoughts to “John Ellis “Jeb” Bush – 2016 Presidential Candidate”

  1. tskier01123

    Poor Jeb. He got blown out of this election by a lunatic. Oh well, I don’t think he would have made much of a great President and the Bush name is pretty tarnished in Politics anyway. I’m fine with it, their shouldn’t be family dynasties in American politics, becomes too much like some kind of monarchy if you ask me. Smarter than his brother, and yet, dumber all the same. Couldn’t fight against the Trump monster and hell, he didn’t even really try. Oh well, I can’t say I’d want to see him in office anyway. But he was pretty toothless in his election and I lost what little respect I had for him in the way his campaign was run.

  2. JudenDell

    Jeb Bush is essentially a lost puppy. He was trying to ride on the coattails of his family fame (infamy??) and couldn’t even drum up enough controversy (ala Trump) to boost his ratings. It is for the best that he resigned from the race, any votes he was getting (If any!) were being wasted on him.

  3. oportosanto

    I think that’s a good comparison you make there @JudelDell, as this Bush is not going to make it all the way to the top. Trump might be a lunatic, but he is being able to gather all the support he needs. I guess money talks.

  4. George Edwards

    I actually like Jeb Bush. To me he comes across as a decent human being with a good sense of humor. However, he just isn’t a very good politician and that fact was basically jabbed into his face every time one of the other candidates took the stage. The part I feel is unacceptable is that he actually had to pull out because of the Trump train. But then, I think Trump has gained so much momentum that it was very difficult for him to hold his own. He was desperately trying to hold on to the election roller coaster, but hejust wasn’t built for it.

  5. petesede

    There are some who say that Bush had a hard time in this particular election because there is so much anger against the establishment. Many said it as if he was a victim of bad timing, but the truth is that he is part of the problem. Jeb purposefully did not announce running for President so that he could work closely with his superpac and help the superpac raise money directly. Once you announce as a candidate, you can no longer work directly with your superpac. So Jeb played the ´game´ for about 6 months where everyone knew he was running, but he didn´t announce it meanwhile, he helped direct the superpac which was able to raise over $150M to support a candidate who wasn´t even a candidate yet.

    Because of the money and his name, he was instantly considered the frontrunner almost a year before the first vote was cast in Iowa. One of the biggest reasons for the early popularity of Trump was because people are just sick of that type of game. They were sick of a system where a guy bends the rules, gets huge amounts of money from rich people, and then by the time average people get to actually vote, the ´frontrunner´ has already been determined.

    Bush was a modest Gov of Florida who coasted through without passing any real legislation or having any real agenda. Most people strive for power so they can use the power to change the world around them. Jeb just kinda sat in a chair. Aside from his name, there is no reason based on his accomplishments, or lack thereof, as Gov that anyone would think of him as a President. His name allowed him to raise money, which allowed him to be the frontrunner, but his lack of commitment and vision are what caused him to get beat badly in the first 3 states before dropping out. He spend $150M in 3 states, and finished no better than 4th.

  6. oportosanto

    And that might be true. Looking back to what George and George W. did, many people might have wanted a change and to be honest are they wrong really? This is not a monarchy right?

  7. martinearletara

    Jeb Bush didn’t have a snowball’s chance going into the election and I feel like he knew it. Some politicians campaign strictly for the money. At least he made out like a fat rat after suspending his campaign.

    He doesn’t seem like a bad guy. It’s just his family name that has already cemented his legacy. It got pretty comical towards the end of the South Carolina Primary. At times the crowds were aloft, possibly dozing off. He got no real ground support (with all of the money he earn, spent, and earned back) nor did it seem like he was even trying. He had no chance from the start.

  8. sharatharadhya

    I keep wondering about American Presidential Candidates and I am astonished that most of them have a very powerful Bussiness Background. All of the candidates running for President are either stupid rich and or own a huge chunk of a business Share market. What if there was a better presidential candidate among the ordinary people who is more efficient than any of those currently running for President. I still don’t get the essence of Democracy in this Elections if most of the Candidates have that much property. I hope that the best one wins.

  9. jamesandrews

    I fear that we haven’t seen the last of Ol’ Jeb during this 2016 presidential election cycle. Many in the Beltway establishment are talking him up as the Republican choice should there be a brokered convention when the party meets later this year to elect its nominee.

    Bush is far too well connected to have let his ambitions go when he announced his exit from the race a couple of months back. If you listen to his resignation speech, he said that this job, as the President, was the one he’d been working towards his whole life. That’s a big thing to say. I can’t wait until July when the convention meets. This promises to be one of the most dramatic in the whole of US electoral history! Bring it on!

  10. oportosanto

    Yep, those were strong words, but in fact he gave up. That could have been something staged to a later return, but despite all his connections, I am not seeing that as something likely to happen.

  11. zod93

    Jeb Bush running for office is just like Hillary running.

    They are all part of a bigger system, and not least a big family. The Bush family of politicians and their whole lost attitude in the world speaks to me through this picture.

  12. Keith Ogilvie

    Surely it was always too soon for a Bush to re-enter the presidential race, after George W it will take quite a while for another one to be taken seriously. In this age of independent journalism the scrutiny will be at record levels.

  13. seupaulo

    Are we really going to make the same mistake for the third time? Another Bush??? Let’s think better about it…. who would have something to win regarding this? For sure not the people.

  14. oportosanto

    So true, so true, but this is happening all over the world in all the areas. People holding power nominate people to perpetuate that situation. Should we elect the white or the black lion right? What difference does it make?

  15. Norjak71

    Jeb Bush is actually more delusional in my opinion than his brother. His stance on terrorism is laughable and at \times when hes talking it sounds like hes trying to convince himself of his lies than everyone else. I don’t believe one thing Jeb has to say. When he went on his late night appearance he looked totally over=-matched when he was getting softball toss-up questions. If he can’t handle a light interview there’s no way he’ll be able to stand up to ISIS. No on Jeb for sure.

  16. oportosanto

    OK, so this is a strong opinion you have here, as I though that both George W and Trump were the highest level of delusional. Sure, he is not convincing, but this is good news because no one else will.

  17. Socialism sucks

    JEB was a stiff.


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