Noelle Bush

John Ellis "Jeb" Bush was born on February 11, 1953, in Midland, Texas. During his childhood, his family relocated to the Tanglewood neighborhood of Houston, Texas. Bush’s parents are George H. W. Bush, a future U.S. president, and Barbara Bush. He has several siblings, including an older brother, George W. Bush, who also served as president of the United States, a younger brother Neil, a younger sister Dorothy, and an older sister Robin, who lived for only the first eight months of his life.

Bush attended Phillips Academy in Andover, Massachusetts, starting at the age of 14. He completed his ninth grade in Houston but was advised to repeat it at Andover, where he initially struggled academically but improved over time. During high school, he participated in extracurricular activities such as tennis, serving as team captain, and engaged in summer service projects, including teaching English in Mexico. It was during his time in Mexico that he met Columba Garnica Gallo, who later became his wife.

He registered for the draft following his graduation from high school in 1971; however, no draft orders were issued after 1972 due to the United States transitioning to an all-volunteer military. Bush’s family had notable educational backgrounds, with many attending Yale University, but he chose to attend the University of Texas at Austin in September 1971, where he studied Latin American affairs. He played on the university’s varsity tennis team in 1973 and graduated Phi Beta Kappa and magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Latin American studies after completing his coursework in two and a half years.

In 1974, Bush began his professional career at Texas Commerce Bank, working in its international division and eventually being stationed in Caracas, Venezuela, as a branch manager and vice president. After the 1980 presidential election, he moved with his family to Miami-Dade County, Florida, and pursued a career in real estate development with Armando Codina. Bush became a partner in The Codina Group, a prominent real estate development firm in South Florida, where he received a 40% share of the profits.

Bush held a variety of entrepreneurial pursuits in Miami, including work with a mobile phone company, board membership in a Norwegian fire equipment company, and minority ownership of the Jacksonville Jaguars NFL team. He also engaged in business ventures such as buying a shoe company operating in Panama and selling water pumps in Nigeria. Additionally, he worked as a lobbyist for Miguel Recarey, chairman of International Medical Centres (IMC), a Florida-based health maintenance organization. Recarey’s company defrauded Medicare of approximately US$781 million in one of the largest Medicare fraud schemes in history.

Bush’s early involvement in politics included volunteering for his father’s campaigns in 1980 and 1988. He served as chairman of the Dade County Republican Party in Florida in the mid-1980s. From 1987 to 1988, he was the Secretary of Commerce for Florida before resigning to work on his father’s presidential campaigns. During this period, he frequently communicated with the national administration, recommending appointments and advocating for policies concerning Cuban exiles and other issues relating to Florida.

In 1994, Bush ran for governor of Florida as a conservative candidate but narrowly lost the election to incumbent Democratic governor Lawton Chiles, losing by less than two percentage points. During that campaign, he gained prominence with a controversial advertisement involving the case of a murdered girl and the death penalty, which drew widespread criticism and scrutiny.

He ran again in 1998, successfully defeating lieutenant governor Buddy MacKay with 55 percent of the vote. Following the death of Governor Lawton Chiles in office just days prior to his scheduled retirement, Bush succeeded MacKay as governor. He was re-elected in 2002, defeating Bill McBride with 56 percent of the vote, making him Florida's first two-term Republican governor.

Bush served as the 43rd governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007. His tenure included initiatives on environmental conservation, medical malpractice reform, Medicaid privatization, and education reform, notably promoting school vouchers and school choice. He announced his presidential candidacy in June 2015 but suspended it in February 2016 after the South Carolina primary. Subsequently, he endorsed Ted Cruz in March 2016. Throughout the 2016 campaign and during Donald Trump’s presidency, Bush was publicly critical of Trump’s administration.