George W. Bush's Brother Neil Says He Voted for Democrat Talarico in the Texas Senate Race

Neil Bush, the brother of former President George W. Bush and son of former President George H.W. Bush, said Tuesday that he voted for Democrat James Talarico in the Texas Senate race, a rare public break from a Bush family that has largely avoided criticizing the sitting president since 2009.

Bush announced his vote in a Facebook post, in which he also criticized President Trump and "those who have enabled him" for causing "enormous damage to the Republican Party." He said he has been a Republican for most of his life and still holds many traditional GOP principles, but that character matters more than party.

He gave two reasons. He said he is "deeply troubled" by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton's record, particularly Paxton's challenge to the 2020 presidential election results in other states to help Trump stay in power. And he said he admires Talarico's character and principles. Bush said he has never met Talarico but was impressed by how Talarico handles complicated issues, praising his faith, his willingness to listen, and his integrity, civility and humility.

Paxton was indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, and those charges were later settled through a diversion agreement. The Republican-controlled Texas House impeached him in 2023 on bribery and abuse-of-office accusations, and the state Senate acquitted him. This year he defeated incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in a bitter GOP primary after receiving Trump's endorsement. Trump has continued to back Paxton and has campaigned for him in Texas several times.

Early voting began Monday. Texas has not elected a Democrat to the U.S. Senate since 1988, but Talarico has held a narrow lead in most polls, including a recent CBS News poll. CBS News' Battleground Tracker rates the race a toss-up.

The Bush name carries weight in the state's political history. George W. Bush's 1994 defeat of Democratic Gov. Ann Richards helped cement the GOP's rise in Texas, and within a decade Republicans held every statewide office, had redrawn the U.S. House map to their advantage and controlled both chambers of the legislature. George P. Bush, a son of Jeb Bush and a nephew of Neil and George W., lost a 2022 GOP primary for attorney general to Paxton.

Bush's endorsement carries symbolic weight rather than votes. But it touches a sore spot for Republicans: the Bush family built much of the modern Texas GOP, and a member of that family explicitly choosing the Democrat, with polls this close, gives Talarico a story to tell moderate and independent voters in the final stretch of early voting.

The Paxton and Talarico campaigns did not figure in Bush's post beyond his stated reasons, and the coverage includes no response from either.