Pierce Bush First Bush to Lose Texas Race in Decades

Republican Pierce Bush, the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, placed third in Texas’ 22nd Republican congressional district primary, which serves as the first time a Bush family member lost a Texas race in more than 40 years.

Bush ran for the Austin, Texas, district and failed to advance to the primary runoff on Tuesday night. Outgoing Republican incumbent Rep. Pete Olson (R-TX) endorsed Bush for the congressional seat and raised more money than 14 of the other candidates running the district.

Troy Nehls won 40.5 percent of the Republican primary, and Kathaleen Wall won 19.4 percent of the race, while Bush received 15.4 percent of the vote. Wall and Nehl will advance to the primary runoff.

Pierce Bush’s loss in the congressional Republican primary serves as the first time a Bush family member lost a bid for Congress since 1978. Since 1978, the Bushes have won races for governor, president, and even state land commissioner.

Bush reportedly advocated for a “comparatively hardline position on immigration” compared to the Bush families’ previous pushes for amnesty for illegal immigration.

Houston political scientists said that Bush’s loss on Tuesday, and the family’s waning position in the Republican Party, signifies that “compassionate conservatism” has also declined in the party in favor of President Donald Trump’s national populism.

Former Florida Republican Gov. Jeb Bush dropped out of the Republican primary in February 2016 after pundits labeled Trump the GOP primary frontrunner.

Brandon Rottinghaus, a political scientist at the University of Houston, said Bush “started too late and got tagged as a carpetbagger in a primary field that was moving significantly far to the right ideologically.

“The race is as much a referendum on the Bush name as on the dynamics of modern Republican Party primary politics,” Rottinghaus said.

The political analysts also said, “It is equally suggestive of Bush’s overall political strategy, including his decision to forego running in another congressional district where his family’s political legacy was far stronger.”

Mark Jones, a Rice University political scientist, said, “Pierce Bush’s failure to reach the runoff suggests that the market for the Bush family brand of compassionate conservatism is nowhere near as strong as it was 20 to 30 years ago when his grandfather and uncle enjoyed widespread support within the Texas GOP.”