USA TODAY International Edition
Bush gets boost from family
He’s helped by brother’s fundraising networks.
Nearly one in five of the prominent Republican fundraisers who helped President George W. Bush win a second term in 2004 have contributed to his younger brother’s White House bid, a USA TODAY analysis shows.
New campaign reports show that 108 of the former president’s 561 fundraisers have donated to Jeb Bush’s campaign in its opening weeks.
Together with their relatives, the Bush “bundlers” have given more than $ 410,000 to the former Florida governor’s official campaign account.
It’s the latest sign that Bush, the son and brother of former presidents, is tapping his family and his own political roots to boost his White House ambitions. Nearly one- quarter of the $ 11 million he raised during the last two weeks of June came from his home state of Florida. He counts his parents, siblings and cousins among his donors, along with more than two dozen employees of an investment firm run by his cousin George Walker.
Other early maxed- out donors to the Bush effort include several board members of Maverick PAC, a political action committee once co- chaired by Bush’s son, Texas Land Commissioner George P. Bush.
Last week, Jeb Bush appeared at a Las Vegas dinner for the PAC, which is aimed at drawing younger donors into Republican politics.
Bush’s sons recently launched their own fundraiser effort, dubbed Mission: NEXT, to woo young Republicans to their father’s campaign.
The filings underscore the limitations of those family connections in a crowded and competitive battle for the 2016 Republican nomination.
Some of the most influential GOP donors of recent campaigns — including casino magnate Sheldon Adelson and billionaire hedge- fund founder Paul Singer — have not endorsed a candidate.
Many of the bundlers who aided George Bush’s re- election more than a decade ago have not written checks to support Jeb Bush. Others back his rivals in a GOP field that includes eight current or former governors and four sitting U. S. senators.
“I haven’t met anybody who doesn’t like Jeb, but he’s not been able to corner the market because you have an exceptional field of qualified candidates,” said Bobbie Kilberg, a veteran Republican fundraiser who was a top bundler for George Bush’s campaign and helps to raise funds for New Jer- sey Gov. Chris Christie’s 2016 White House bid.
“People have developed relationships over the years with a lot of the leading candidates,” said Kilberg, who said she counts Christie, Bush and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker among her friends. “People are looking at all of the 15 or 16 candidates.”
The analysis examined donations to Bush’s official campaign account, Jeb 2016, which began raising money in mid- June when he officially launched his campaign.
Individuals can donate up to $ 2,700 for the primary election to Jeb 2016 and another $ 2,700 for the general election.
Earlier in the year, Bush and his allies established a separate super PAC, which can collect donations of any size.
That political action committee, called Right to Rise USA, raised $ 103 million from January through June but does not have to disclose its donors until the end of July.
Tramm Hudson, a retired bank executive in Sarasota, Fla., who raised money for George Bush’s campaign, hasn’t donated to Bush’s official campaign committee. But he has co- hosted a fundraising event for the super PAC. He declined to say how much he helped raise for Right to Rise.
“A vigorous primary” is healthy for Republicans, Hudson said. But “I’m fully committed and invested in Jeb Bush,” he said. “He’s the best candidate we have.”