A member of the Bush family has all but officially announced his intention to run for governor in Maine.
Jonathan Bush has been a healthcare entrepreneur for over two decades, and now looks poised to enter the 2026 race as soon as next week.
Since July, he has been considering a political run, with his cousins, former President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, supporting him at an August fundraising event at the family’s Kennebunkport estate, as reported by the Bangor Daily News.
Roughly 65 people attended the event at Walker’s Point, with each of them paying $2,075 for a table.
In a news release this week, Bush, 56, said he’d be making a ‘major announcement’ on Wednesday.
‘I’ve been in discussions with people across the state, and a common sentiment is emerging,’ Bush expressed in a statement to the Portland Press Herald.
‘Residents want a leader who will challenge the current system in Augusta. They desire a successful job creator who ensures that our youth can fulfill the American Dream without having to leave the state. I am eager to meet with friends next week to discuss the next phase of this thrilling endeavor.’
The gathering is set to occur at the Athenahealth campus, a multi-billion-dollar company he launched in 1997. He retired as CEO in 2018 before the company was sold for $17 billion in 2022.
Jonathan Bush is likely to announce a run for Maine governor next week
In August, he held a fundraising event at the Bush family estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, where approximately 65 attendees paid $2,075 per table.
Jonathan might follow the path of his relatives, former President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, while Jeb’s son also experienced success as the commissioner of the Texas General Land Office from 2015 to 2023.
Bush, assuming he runs as a Republican, is not likely to align himself with the MAGA movement, as he has called President Donald Trump ‘personally troubled’.
And in December 2023, he donated $50,000 to a super PAC that was in support of Nikki Haley, Trump’s main rival in the 2024 Republican primaries.
He has not given much to Maine politicians but has supported Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican who voted against Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill.
Bush has also praised Maine’s incumbent Democratic Governor Janet Mills, who will not be running next year because of term limits, for keeping the ‘the lunatic fringe’ of her party at bay.
If Bush were to win next year, he would be putting his family back in the spotlight after a very quiet decade.
Trump largely took over the GOP with his shock win in the 2016 Republican primary, a contest Jeb Bush was initially forecasted to do well in, and his defeat of Hillary Clinton in the general election.
Many believed that the Bush dynasty was dead when George P. Bush, the son of Jeb Bush, lost in a landslide to Ken Paxton in the 2022 GOP primary for Texas Attorney General.
But Jonathan Bush has not been deterred by his family’s recent political woes, or even his own scandals.
Billy Bush, Jonathan’s brother, has made a name for himself as a television and radio host
Pictured: The Blaine House, which serves as the official residence for the Governor of Maine. It is located in Augusta
The reason he resigned as CEO of Athenahealth is because an activist investor, Paul Singer, sought to push him out as reports surfaced that he had admitted to hitting his ex-wife Sarah Seldon in 2006.
Following the pressure, Bush apologized and accepted responsibility.
‘I take complete responsibility for all these regrettable incidents involving my dear former wife. They occurred 14 years ago during a particularly difficult personal time in my life when I was going through a divorce,’ he said in a statement.
‘At that time, I apologized to Sarah and took responsibility for my actions. I have worked very hard since then to demonstrate my remorse, and today, Sarah and I have a strong, co-parenting relationship,’ he added.
Bush grew up in New York City and spent his summers in North Haven, a small island community of the coast of Maine. He moved to Cape Elizabeth in 2021.
