An individual from the Bush family lineage, who is on the brink of launching a campaign for governor in Maine, has a troubling history linked to domestic violence and accusations of sexual harassment.

Jonathan Bush, an entrepreneur in the healthcare sector, is anticipated to announce his intention to run in the 2026 election possibly as early as next week. This follows a fundraising event he held at the Bush family estate in August.

The 56-year-old entrepreneur is related to former President George W. Bush and ex-Florida Governor Jeb Bush, both of whom were prominent figures at the gathering in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Bush had previously confessed to ‘numerous physical alterations’ with his ex-wife Sarah Seldon. 

Incidents include him repeatedly striking his closed fist onto her chest in the presence of their infant child.

These revelations thrust the political family into turmoil after the information became public during a 2006 custody dispute concerning the couple’s five children, which surfaced in 2018.

The former Mrs Bush alleged that Bush had ‘struck her on numerous occasions, once causing a black eye’.  

A second submission claimed that Bush’s behavior had become ‘more and more aggressive and hostile’. 

It says that he had ‘screamed at her, directly into her face, calling her a ‘whore’ while pushing her into the wall and repeatedly slamming his closed fist into her sternum. 

His hand landed just inches from their baby who was crying. His wife testified that she was very afraid for her own safety and that of the child in her arms.

The court papers included an acknowledgment from Bush who agreed ‘that such an incident took place’.

The documents at the time said that his wife filed for an emergency motion to have Bush vacate their home. Since then he has married and divorced for a second time. 

After his disturbed behavior was uncovered, Bush said in a statement that he took ‘complete responsibility for all these regrettable incidents’ involving his ex-wife.

‘They occurred during a particularly difficult personal time in my life. I have worked very hard since then to demonstrate my remorse’, he added. 

Seldon said: ‘Like many families, ours is not perfect. Neither of us are proud of the events that occurred during our divorce.’ 

Not long after his history of violence was uncovered, a video captured in 2017 showed Bush at a healthcare industry event dressed up as a race car driver. 

Bush was pretending to be the title character of the 2006 comedy ‘Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby’, portrayed by Will Ferrell. 

Bloomberg first reported on the clip, saying that he was seen telling one of his female employees that he wanted to ‘jump down on her and do inappropriate things’. 

After a brief pause, the exec cleared his throat and said: ‘Uh, but obviously that’s totally inappropriate and would never happen or be said on a microphone.’ 

Two complaints were also filed against Bush in 2007 and in 2009, alleging inappropriate conduct with female employees.

The first complaint, obtained by the outlet, was filed by a female Athenahealth manager with the Massachusetts Commission Against Discrimination.

In the complaint, the woman said that although she was given positive performance reviews, she was fired and told she was ‘destructive to the team’.

The woman alleged that Bush ‘engaged in highly inappropriate conduct regarding a female employee at an awards banquet in or around early 2005’.

He also faced a complaint in 2009 by another former female employee who said she left Athenahealth due to the ‘sexually hostile environment which I was forced to work in’.

In the complaint, she claimed that Bush stared at her breasts, commented on his sex life and made sexual remarks about her and other female employees.

The case was settled shortly thereafter and the woman, who spoke to the New York Post anonymously, called Bush ‘a friend, a good man [and] a good leader’.

In a news release this week, Bush said he’d be making a ‘major announcement’ on Wednesday. 

‘I’ve had conversations with people all over the state, and I’m hearing the same thing almost everywhere,’ Bush said in a written statement to the Portland Press Herald.

‘Mainers want a leader who will shake up the status quo in Augusta. They want a proven job creator who will make sure our kids don’t have to leave the state to achieve the American Dream. I can’t wait to gather with friends next week and talk about the next step in this exciting journey.’

The event will take place on the campus of Athenahealth, the multi-billion-dollar company he founded in 1997.

He stepped down as CEO in 2018 over the reports that emerged involving his behavior towards his ex-wife before the company sold for $17 billion in 2022.

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’. 

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.

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.

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.