Bush boosting GOP in places where Trump isn’t strong

Former President George W. Bush is quietly helping boost Republican candidates in places where President Donald Trump has struggled. In so doing, the former two-term president is raising his profile, ever so slightly, in the national politics he eschewed for years.

On Wednesday, Bush held an event in Fort Worth, Texas, for Republican Rep. Will Hurd in a congressional district Trump lost in 2016. On Friday, Bush is set to appear in Florida, which Trump narrowly won, on behalf of Gov. Rick Scott in the state’s expensive Senate race.

Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, who will also attend the Scott event, said in an email that his brother “is helping Senate candidates across the country.”

These events are a focal part of Bush’s re-emergence in national politics before the Nov. 6 election that will help determine control of Congress.

Another former president, Barack Obama, also has come off the political sidelines for the upcoming midterms.