John Ellis Bush, more widely known as Jeb (or now Jeb!), formally announced his 2016 US presidential election bid at a rally in Miami this afternoon. The former Florida governor, whose father and brother served as the 41st and 43rd presidents, is one of about a dozen candidates seeking to represent the Republican party in the national election.
Bush has been ”actively considering“ this move for at least the past six months, fundraising all the while. Critics say he’s been unlawfully skirting campaign-finance rules by collecting as much money as he has and courting voters in advance. On the record with reporters, he has denied any such wrongdoing.
In his announcement speech at Miami Dade College today (June 15), Bush, referencing the current leadership in the nation’s capital and continuing the broken-system theme raised by several of his Republican challengers, declared, “We can fix this.” In his prepared remarks, released to the press before his speech, he promised to “take Washington—the static capital of this dynamic country—out of the business of causing problems.”
Recent polling suggests that, despite likely having more money to campaign with than anyone else, Bush is not heavily favored over other Republican candidates at this time.