In December 1994, Bush was arrested at his former girlfriend's home after attempting to break in and later driving his car through the front yard. The victims declined to press charges.[4][5] He graduated from Rice University with a Bachelor of Arts in history in 1998. He attended University of Texas School of Law from 2000 until 2003, graduating with a Juris Doctor degree.[6][7][3]
From 2007 to 2012, Bush was a partner at Pennybacker Capital, LLC, a real estateprivate equity firm in Austin, Texas. The firm was originally named N3 Capital and headquartered in Fort Worth.[15][16] In 2012, he founded St. Augustine Partners, an energy and technology-focused investment firm in Fort Worth.[17][18] After Bush's defeat in the March 2022 attorney general primary to Ken Paxton, he went to work for a Wisconsin-based law firm called Michael Best & Friedrich LLP, officing out of Austin.[19][20]
In March 2007, the United States Navy Reserve selected Bush for training as an intelligence officer through the direct commission officer program, a Navy initiative whereby applicants in specialized civilian fields forgo the typical prerequisites of a commission, such as the Naval Academy, NROTC or OCS, and—instead—attend the Direct Commissioned Officer Indoctrination Course (DCOIC),[23] a three-week course on subjects such as naval history, customs and courtesies, followed by online classes. He was commissioned as a Navy Reserve Officer in May 2007.[24][25] Bush served in Afghanistan for eight months from June 2010 to February 2011.[24] During the deployment, he was given a different name for security purposes.[26] Bush left the U.S. Navy Reserve in May 2017 as a lieutenant.[24][27]
In September 2012, Bush announced his intention to run for office, saying that he was considering one of several state offices. Two months later he filed papers required to run for state office in Texas.[28] The same month, his father, Jeb Bush, emailed donors requesting that they support him in his 2014 bid for Texas Land Commissioner.[29][30]
In January 2013, Bush filed a campaign finance report stating he had received about $1.3 million in campaign contributions.[31] In March 2013, Bush filed to run for Texas Land Commissioner.[31][32] The main role of the Land Office is negotiating and enforcing leases for mineral rights on millions of acres of land owned by the State of Texas.[33]
By June 2013, Bush had raised $3.3 million even though no Democratic candidate had emerged for land commissioner.[34] On November 19, 2013, he officially filed the papers to run for Texas land commissioner.[35]
In the 2014 Republican primary, outgoing Land Commissioner Jerry E. Patterson ran unsuccessfully for lieutenant governor[36][37] while Bush defeated David Watts of Gilmer in Upshur County for the Republican nomination for land commissioner; Bush received 74 percent of the vote, totalling 937,987 votes to Watts' 27 percent with 346,949 votes.[36]
In the November 4 general election, Bush faced Democrat John Cook, a former mayor of El Paso.[38] Bush won 61 percent of the vote against token opposition, carrying "virtually every demographic" and riding a nationwide Republican wave in the midterms.[39][40] He became the only Bush to win his first election.[41]
As of January 2017[update], Bush had about $3.1 million in campaign cash for his re-election campaign.[42] He won the March 6, 2018, Republican primary with nearly 58 percent of the vote, defeating three other candidates including Jerry E. Patterson, the previous land commissioner.[43] In the general election, Bush received 53.68 percent of the vote to Democratic candidate Miguel Suazo's 43.19 percent and Libertarian Matt Pina's 3.1 percent.[44][45][46]
As state land commissioner, Bush oversaw the Texas General Land Office (GLO), which manages about 13 million acres of state land and is in charge of auctions for leases to extract oil and natural gas on those lands.[42]
In 2015, the GLO under Bush took control of the Alamo, a historic site in San Antonio, ending the state's partnership with the Daughters of the Republic of Texas (DRT), which had managed the site for decades.[48] In firing DRT as managers of the Alamo, Bush alleged that the group had violated its contract.[49] Bush locked the DRT out of the Daughters of the Republic of Texas Library, and the GLO claimed ownership over the Library's collections and artifacts. DRT sued, and the suit was settled in 2016, with Bush and the GLO relinquishing their claims and agreeing to pay the DRT $200,000 in legal fees.[50] Bush oversaw a $450-million remodel of the Alamo and the plaza around it.[42] In 2015, Bush spoke at a fundraising event for the Alamo Endowment, which took over management of the site in conjunction with the GLO.[48]English singer Phil Collins donated various Alamo-related artifacts to the State of Texas, with the stipulation that the State of Texas build a facility to hold the artifacts within a seven-year period.[48][49] The Texas state legislature made a one-time infusion of $25 million to Bush's GLO to redevelop the Alamo site, and the city of San Antonio agreed to provide $1 million for the redevelopment.[49]
Bush dismissed some one hundred land commission employees hired under the preceding Commissioner Jerry E. Patterson. According to the San Antonio Express-News, Bush paid almost $1 million in taxpayer funds to encourage the dismissed personnel not to file suit against either him or the agency. He kept at least forty persons on the payroll for up to five months after terminating their employment; they agreed in writing not to sue.[51]
In 2016, the office began a multi-year study on the flood effects of the Houston area and Texas coast.[52]
In June 2020, amid reports that George W. Bush and Jeb Bush would not support Trump's re-election,[53] George P. Bush announced his full support for Trump, saying "Trump is the only thing standing between America and socialism."[53][54]
In 2020 and 2021, Bush said he was considering running for Texas attorney general in 2022 against incumbent Ken Paxton, a Republican accused of scandal.[56][57] On June 2, 2021, Bush officially announced his candidacy.[58]
In June 2021, Bush entered the race for Texas Attorney General with a campaign video that praises Donald Trump and does not mention his father, grandfather, or great-grandfather.[59][60] Trump then endorsed Bush's opponent, Ken Paxton.[61]
During the campaign, Bush criticized the ways in which Paxton sought to overturn the 2020 election results, but said that he did not disagree with Paxton's "intent."[62] His campaign talking points were "massive voter fraud", "critical race theory" in schools, finishing the "Trump wall", and district attorneys in big cities "who are not on the side of law enforcement." He also said he would "go after human traffickers and drug cartels".[63]
Bush obtained 32% of the vote in the primary election, being defeated by Paxton who obtained 68% of the vote.[64]The Texas Tribune wrote Bush's "defeat could mark the end of a four-generation political dynasty."[65]
When asked in 2003 about whether he planned to run for office himself, Bush replied that his grandmother, Barbara Bush, had advised that anyone thinking about entering politics should distinguish himself in some other field first: "Make a name for yourself, have a family, marry someone great, have some kids, buy a house, pay taxes, and do the things everyone also does instead of just running out and saying, 'Hey, I'm the nephew of or the son of or the grandson of...'"[68]
Bush was the national co-chair of Maverick PAC, a national political action committee dedicated to engaging the next generation of Republican voters.[72] Bush served as a member of several diplomacy missions, including one to Nicaragua for the second peaceful transfer of power in that country, and one to Brazil for the Pan American Games in 2007. He also joined two US Congressional delegations, one to Saudi Arabia during the Arab Spring of 2011 and one to Turkey in 2012 at the time of the civil war in neighboring Syria.[73]
Bush is a co-founder and serves on the board of directors of Hispanic Republicans of Texas, a political action committee whose goal is to elect Republican political candidates to office in the state.[74]
Opinions
In August 2004, during a trip to Mexico sponsored by the group Republicans Abroad, he called Venezuelan PresidentHugo Chávez a dictator[75] and criticized the U.S. Border Patrol's use of guns which fire plastic pellets packed with chili powder. Bush was quoted as telling Mexican media, "If there has been American approval for this policy, that is reprehensible. It's kind of barbarous." He attributed the gun usage to "some local INS guy who's trying to be tough, act macho", although it is an agency policy.[76]
Bush said that climate change is a serious threat to Texas but he does not accept the scientific consensus which attributes climate change to human activity.[79]
In February 2021, Texas experienced a humanitarian crisis after widespread power outages were caused by the infrastructure not being weatherized. Although 90 percent of the power plants that failed were fueled by fossil and nuclear fuels, Bush attacked wind and solar energy: "If the last few days have proven anything, it’s that we need oil & gas. Relying solely on renewable energy would be catastrophic."[80][81][82]
Personal life
He was featured in People's 100 most eligible bachelors in 2000.[76][83]
Bush married law school classmate, Amanda L. Williams, on August 7, 2004, in Kennebunkport, Maine, at St. Ann's by-the-Sea Episcopal Church[84][85] Williams is a media law attorney at the firm Jackson Walker LLP in Fort Worth, Texas. [29][86][87] The couple has two sons.[88]
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