George Bush Wins In Texas

George P. Bush that is:

George P. Bush took the first step toward continuing his family’s political dynasty Tuesday, shaking off an under-funded primary challenger and securing the Republican nomination for the little-known but powerful post of Texas land commissioner.

The 37-year-old Fort Worth attorney is the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, nephew of former President and Texas Gov. George W. Bush, and son of ex-Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who is frequently mentioned as a possible GOP White House hopeful in 2016.

He’s also a Spanish speaker whose mother Columba was born in Mexico and who Republican leaders statewide long have toasted as key to wooing voters among Texas’ booming Hispanic population.

“We don’t have to change our conservative principles to win, we just need to change our tactics,” said Bush, who spoke English and Spanish to the crowd at his victory party at a Fort Worth Mexican restaurant. His mother was among the attendees.

He noted that his campaign traveled to numerous heavily Hispanic areas, including making several trips to the Texas-Mexico border.

“You’ll see that we have tea party friends, that we have mainstream conservatives, we have strong Latino support and a lot of younger voters,” he said.

There was no incumbent running and Bush used his American political-royalty surname to raise more than $3.5 million while his opponent, East Texas businessman David Watts, could barely afford to travel the state.

Bush immediately becomes the overwhelming favorite in November against Democratic nominee and former El Paso Mayor John Cook.

Assuming that Bush wins in November, which seems likely, most expect that this will be just the beginning of his political career. For what it’s worth, the current Lt. Governor of Texas, David Dewhurst, served as Land Commissioner from 1999 to 2003.

FILED UNDER: 2014 Election, US Politics, , , , , , , ,
Doug Mataconis
About Doug Mataconis
Doug Mataconis held a B.A. in Political Science from Rutgers University and J.D. from George Mason University School of Law. He joined the staff of OTB in May 2010 and contributed a staggering 16,483 posts before his retirement in January 2020. He passed far too young in July 2021.

Comments

  1. Moosebreath says:

    So, can we call this part of the Bush Family’s Royalist Legacy?

  2. C. Clavin says:

    This is a guy that filed to run…well before he actually decided which office he was going to run for.
    Aspirations indeed.
    According to many accounts he is just like his uncle…a friggin’ idiot.

  3. OzarkHillbilly says:

    “We don’t have to change our conservative principles to win, we just need to change our tactics,” said Bush, who spoke English and Spanish to the crowd at his victory party at a Fort Worth Mexican restaurant.

    He only spoke in Spanish saying, “Una fria cervaza por favor.” so that the wait staff would know to bring him another beer.

  4. legion says:

    @C. Clavin: Yeah, he was pretty obviously trolling for a “starter job” that, like his uncle GW, wouldn’t tax his limited faculties. This is why Texas can’t have nice things – they’e completely happy to elect morons and incompetents, even when they _know_ they’re getting played.

  5. legion says:

    Huh. I wonder who the gutless weasel is that signed on 3 separate times just to downvote people without having the balls to type a single word in rebuttal…

  6. C. Clavin says:

    @legion:
    George P. Bush, obviously.

  7. al-Ameda says:

    @Moosebreath:

    So, can we call this part of the Bush Family’s Royalist Legacy?

    Let’s ask OTB Staff for a clarification on this issue.

  8. PJ says:

    As we all know, a House seat being held by a father and son for 80 years straight years is so much worse and so much more a sign of a royalist legacy than a father and son being President for a total of 12 years during a 20 years period.

    Because there are so few Representatives in the House and so many Presidents at one time.

  9. Robin Cohen says:

    Here we go again. When will Texans stop electing the Bush Family? Haven’t
    previous family members done enough damage to this country?