Possible presidential candidate Jeb Bush announced that he will release about 250,000 emails from his time as governor of Florida, as well as a new electronic book.
The e-book, which will come out early next year, will be released shortly after the emails, as the former governor and brother of former president George W. Bush moves ever closer to officially announcing a run at the nation’s highest office, according to an Associated Press report.
Bush said he wanted to release the emails in order to be more transparent. He was governor of the state between 1999 and 2007, meaning that he has been out of office for longer than his brother. His father, George H.W. Bush, served as president from 1989 to 1993.
Bush would be an early favorite to win the Republican nomination should e declare his candidacy, although his positions on immigration and education have rankled the GOP core.
Earlier this month, Bush made a public appearance where he indicated he would make up his mind shortly about whether or not to run.
One of his priorities would be an energy policy that expands use of natural resources. He would also seek to trim business regulations and simplify the tax code, and also overhaul the immigration system in an “economically driven” way, he said at the public appearance. He also wants Congress to stop focusing so much on repealing the Affordable Care Act and turn their attention more on passing their own legislation.
Bush recently emailed major Republican donors urging them to hold off on committing to a candidate, as he is about to make an announcement soon. He will need to decide soon, as competition is heating up for the nomination and big dollars that could help his campaign could be doled out to others in short order. He will also be competing for top campaign staff, and has been telling potential candidates to hold off on working for another candidate for now.
In the years since serving as governor, Bush has gotten involved with a number of investment funds, which he is trying to entangle himself from before beginning a campaign.
Bush’s entry into the race would instantly ratchet up pressure on rivals in both parties to start making decisions. Waiting until spring may be too long for hte campaign, as competition has already started heating up.
Jeb Bush is the only Republican to have served two four-year terms as Florida’s governor. He is from Houston, Texas, and earned a degree in Latin American affairs at the University of Texas. He moved to Florida after his father became vice president to President Ronald Reagan in 1980, and he was named the state’s secretary of commerce in 1986. He first ran for governor in 1994, but lost by a narrow margin to incumbent Lawton Chiles.
