It wasn’t that long ago that political junkies were mulling over George Prescott Bush’s presidential prospects.

The son of former Florida governor and unsuccessful 2016 presidential contender Jeb Bush, George P. has an ideal résumé for someone preparing to run for national office.

An intelligence officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve who spent more than eight months in Afghanistan, Bush received his undergraduate degree from Rice University and his law degree from the University of Texas School of Law.

He later clerked for a U.S. district judge, worked for a private equity firm and practiced corporate law in Dallas.

The bilingual Bush — his mother, Columba, was born in Mexico and eventually became a naturalized U.S. citizen — ran for Texas land commissioner in 2014. The office was open because the incumbent, Republican Jerry Patterson, opted to run for lieutenant governor rather than for reelection. Bush won a primary easily and the general election comfortably.

Four years later, he won renomination by defeating three opponents, including Patterson. He beat his Democratic opponent by 10 points that November.

In 2022, Bush ran for Texas attorney general against a formidable foe, incumbent Republican Ken Paxton. Paxton is an ultra-conservative whose political career was launched by the tea party.

The ambitious Bush didn’t just slide to the right, he sprinted, endorsing Donald Trump for president and supporting the ouster of then-Rep. Liz Cheney of Wyoming as chair of the House Republican Conference. (In the decade since Trump announced his first White House bid, other Bush family members, including Jeb and former Presidents George W. and the late George H.W., were not so eager to embrace him.)

On issues, George P. ran as a Trumper, attacking critical race theory, supporting Trump’s push to build a border wall and complaining about massive voter fraud. 

But running hard to the right didn’t save the grandson of George H.W. Bush and nephew of George W. Bush: He lost by a stunning 34 points in a runoff against Paxton, who during the campaign promised to “end the Bush dynasty.”

Paxton, who later went on to be impeached by the Texas House but acquitted in the Senate, was endorsed for reelection by Trump, who during the 2016 presidential contest had mocked Jeb Bush as “low energy.”

No matter how tightly George P. embraced Trump and echoed the Trump agenda, he couldn’t overcome the Bush name and image. The Make America Great Again crowd viewed Bush’s political experience and pragmatic conservatism as liabilities, not assets.

The Bush family was, and is, synonymous with the GOP establishment both in Texas and nationally. It’s far from clear that George P. can appeal to the MAGA crowd no matter how hard he tries. Perhaps they just won’t trust him, unless Trump intervenes.

Still, it’s probably premature to write the political obituary of George P., who is 49 years old. The Republican Party has changed dramatically over the past decade, and it could change dramatically over the next decade. 

As for George P.’s 2022 electoral defeat, it says little about the future. 

George H.W. Bush lost a Senate bid in 1964, when he tried to oust veteran Texas Democratic Sen. Ralph Yarborough before going on to a career that culminated in the presidency. Jeb Bush lost his first bid for governor of Florida (to incumbent Lawton Chiles) in 1994 before winning two terms.

George W. lost his first run for office in 1978, when he lost a House race to Kent Hance. He went on to do OK, winning two terms as Texas governor and two terms as president. Apparently, comebacks are nothing new to the Bush family.

Shortly after his unsuccessful run for Texas attorney general, George P. was named the new managing partner of Michael Best & Friedrich’s Austin office. Bush “will oversee the office’s operations and strategic planning,” according to a press release from the firm. 

George P. has a website that certainly looks like he is planning to run for elective office again. Part of the website is out of date since it still lists him as Texas land commissioner. Other parts of the website have been updated, including a 2025 Fort Worth Star-Telegram op-ed on artificial intelligence.

But except for fundraising, the Bush name is no longer the huge asset that it once was. The GOP is a different party, with different voters who are looking for different candidates. 

George P. still looks and sounds like a Bush. But his embrace of Trump during his run for attorney general means he could have alienated the Bush universe without getting anything from Trump.

He seems like he is a long way from the glide path to higher office that he once was on.