John Ellis "Jeb" Bush (born February 11, 1953) is an American businessman and politician. He served as the 43rd Governor of Florida from 1999 to 2007.

Bush is the second son of former President George H. W. Bush and former First Lady Barbara Bush, the younger brother of former President George W. Bush, and grandson of the late Prescott Bush, United States Senator from Connecticut. Following his father's successful run for Vice President in 1980, he moved to Florida and pursued a career in real estate development. In 1986, Bush was named Florida's Secretary of Commerce, a position he held until his resignation in 1988 to help his father's successful campaign for the Presidency.

In 1994, Bush made his first run for office, losing the election for governor by less than two percentage points to the incumbent Lawton Chiles. Bush ran again in 1998 and defeated Lieutenant Governor Buddy MacKay with 55 percent of the vote. He ran for reelection in 2002. He won with 56 percent to become Florida's first two-term Republican governor. During his eight years as governor, Bush helped create environmental improvements, such as conservation in the Everglades, supporting caps for medical malpractice litigation, moving Medicaid recipients to private systems, and creating reforms to the state education system, including the issuance of vouchers and promoting school choice.

Bush was a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election.

Early life
Bush was born in Midland, Texas. He was raised in Houston, Texas. His father is George H. W. Bush, the 41st President of the United States and 43rd Vice President of the United States. His mother is Barbara Pierce. The nickname "Jeb" is made up of his initials J.E.B. (John Ellis Bush).

Bush received poor grades at first and occasionally smoked marijuana. He made the honor roll by the end of his senior year and served as captain of the tennis team. He studied at the University of Texas at Austin. At the age of 17, Bush taught English as a second language and worked in the building of a school in Ibarrilla, a small village outside of León, Guanajuato, Mexico/ It was part of a student exchange summer program. While in Mexico, he met his future wife, Columba Garnica Gallo.

Early career

Florida Secretary of Commerce (1987-1988)
Following his father's successful run for Vice President in 1980, he moved to Florida and pursued a career in real estate development. In 1986, Bush was named Florida's Secretary of Commerce, a position he held until his resignation in 1988 to help his father's successful campaign for the Presidency.

1994 gubernatorial run
In 1994, Bush made his first run for office. He lost the election for governor by less than two percentage points to the incumbent Lawton Chiles.

Governor of Florida (1999-2007)
Bush ran again in 1998 and beat Lieutenant Governor Buddy MacKay with 55 percent of the vote.  Bush's administration was marked by a focus on public education reform.

While Governor, Bush reduced taxes by $19 billion, reduced the size of state government by 6.6 percent, and vetoed $2 billion in new spending. Bush eliminated civil service protection for over 16,000 state jobs, which had the effect of making it easier to fire employees in those positions.

Bush signed legislation to restore the Everglades as part of an $8 billion project in conjunction with the federal government. Bush supported more than a dozen new protections for gun owners. In 2005, Bush signed into law Florida's stand-your-ground law, which was the first such state law in the United States. In 2004, Bush supported an unsuccessful bill to allow illegal immigrants to be issued drivers licenses by the state.

He ran for reelection in 2002 and won with 56 percent to become Florida's first two-term Republican governor.

During his eight years as governor, Bush was credited with initiating environmental improvements, such as conservation in the Everglades, supporting caps for medical malpractice litigation, moving medicaid recipients to private systems, and instituting reforms to the state education system, including the issuance of vouchers and promoting school choice.

2016 presidential race

Bush was considered a potential candidate in the 2016 presidential election since the end of the 2012 election.

At a press conference on April 16, 2013, at Bluefield College, Bush stated he had not begun the decision making process about a run but that he would begin to consider a run soon. On October 2, 2014, Bush's brother George said that his brother "wants to be President". On December 16, 2014, Bush announced via Facebook that he would be "actively exploring"  a 2016 run to become President of the United States and at the end of the year resigned several corporate boards.

Bush announced his candidacy on June 15, 2015. Bush was high on Republican polls for president in June, but slipped as he lost to Donald Trump, Ted Cruz and to Marco Rubio. After losing the Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina caucuses, Bush suspended his campaign on February 20, 2016.

Personal life
Bush married Columba Bush in 1974. They have three children: George, Noelle, and John.

In 1995, Bush converted from Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. In 2004, he became a Fourth Degree Knight of Columbus.  Bush, a member of Father Hugon Council 3521 in Tallahassee, has joined Father Hugon Assembly.

References

More reading
 Barnes, Fred. "Governor in Chief: Jeb Bush's remarkable eight years of achievement in Florida." The Weekly Standard, June 12, 2006.
 Freedberg, Sydney P. "Jeb Bush: The Son Rises Away from Dad's Shadow." The Miami Herald, August 15, 1994.
 Huffington, Arianna. "The latest Bush hypocrisy" . Salon.com, September 16, 2002.
 Viglucci, Andres and Alfonso Chardy. "Bush and business: Fast success, brushes with mystery". The Miami Herald, October 5, 2002.
 Yardley, William. "Jeb Bush: His early values shape his politics." The Miami Herald, September 22, 2002.

Other websites

 Jeb! 2016 – official website
 Official Governor's portrait and biography  at the Museum of Florida History
 Jeb Bush at Biography.com
 Jeb Bush, On the Issues
 Jeb Bush's file at PolitiFact.com
 Jeb Bush  collected news and commentary at the Tampa Bay Times

2016 United States presidential candidates
1953 births
Living people
People from Midland, Texas
Businesspeople from Texas
Governors of Florida
Bush family
George H. W. Bush
Children of Presidents of the United States
US Republican Party politicians
21st-century American politicians
20th-century American politicians