FORMER FLORIDA GOVERNOR Jeb Bush has launched the Right to Rise PAC and taken another step along a potential road to the White House.
The son and brother of the 41st and 43rd US presidents says that the fundraising committee has been set up to “support candidates who believe in conservative principles to allow all Americans to rise up”.
Bush announced last month that he was setting up the committee and today released video messages in both English and Spanish as the PAC website went live.
The organisation also allows Bush to hire staff, conduct polling, and pay for travel should he seek to raise money from donors ahead of a rumoured bid for the presidency in 2016.
Bush’s PAC is late to the game compared to some of his potential rivals like Senators Marco Rubio and Rand Paul and Texas Governor Rick Perry.
These other Republicans also have an advantage on Bush in terms of age with their current positions. Two-term Florida Governor Bush has been out of office since 2007 and has not contested an election since 2002.
None of the named rivals, however, can compete with Bush’s name and its fundraising potential so today’s announcement makes the reality of another Bush run a distinct possibility.
Bush strikes a populist tone in a message posted on the Right to Rise PAC’s website, charging that “millions of our fellow citizens across the broad middle class feel as if the American Dream is now out of their reach … that the playing field is no longer fair or level.”
He continued: “Too many of the poor have lost hope that a path to a better life is within their grasp. While the last eight years have been pretty good ones for top earners, they’ve been a lost decade for the rest of America.”
The message comes as Bush continues a private fundraising tour across the country. He’s scheduled to meet with donors in Connecticut’s wealthy suburbs later this week.
Separately, as Florida lifted a ban on gay marriage, Bush sounded a moderate tone on the decision of his some state, expressing sympathy with gay couples according to the New York Times;
I hope that we can show respect for the good people on all sides of the gay and lesbian marriage issue – including couples making lifetime commitments to each other who are seeking greater legal protections and those of us who believe marriage is a sacrament and want to safeguard religious liberty.
- Additional reporting by Rónán Duffy
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