George W Bush went to the polls in 2016 and left the presidential line blank rather than vote for Donald Trump.
Now the Bush family is running the same play in Texas – and this time they could actually pull it off.
What they've assembled against Trump's pick in Texas could flip a seat Republicans haven't lost in 38 years.
Neil Bush and Barbara Bush Have a Score to Settle With Ken Paxton
Neil Bush, the brother of George W. Bush announced his vote on Facebook this week – publicly, deliberately, in the middle of early voting.
He said he was backing Democrat James Talarico because of Ken Paxton's role in helping Trump challenge the 2020 election results.
That's the official explanation. What Neil left out is the part that actually explains it.
In 2022, Paxton crushed George P. Bush – Neil's own nephew and Jeb's son – in the Republican primary for Texas attorney general.
This year, Trump endorsed Paxton for U.S. Senate over incumbent John Cornyn, calling him "a true MAGA Warrior who has ALWAYS delivered for Texas," and Paxton won that race too.
The base keeps choosing Paxton over the Bush family's preferred candidates, and the family has decided to make him pay for it.
Barbara Bush – daughter of George W. Bush and twin sister of Today show host Jenna Bush Hager – donated $2,500 to Lone Star Rising PAC on September 23, which exists to elect James Talarico. She didn't give anonymously. She gave to a public PAC where her name would show up in FEC filings – and it did.
Barbara Bush openly advocates for abortion and says she doesn't identify with either political party. She chose the Democrat in a Texas Senate race no Democrat has won since 1988.
Karl Rove – the strategist behind George W. Bush's two presidential campaigns – joined them, announcing he's voting for a Democrat in a Texas down-ballot race and publishing his reasoning in The Wall Street Journal. Trump responded on Truth Social that Rove is a "stone-cold loser."
On September 22nd, George W. Bush showed up to a Dallas fundraiser for Maintain the Majority PAC raising money for six Republican Senate candidates across the country. Not one of those six was Ken Paxton. The money went to Republicans running in Alaska, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, New Hampshire, and Ohio – and the Texas seat got nothing.
Cornyn, who lost the primary to Paxton and then called him "a poor campaigner," co-hosted the event alongside Bush. Filling out the host committee were names from the Bush years – among them Harriet Miers, whom George W. Bush once tried to put on the Supreme Court. They raised money for Republicans everywhere in America except their own backyard – and that's not an accident.
Karl Rove and John Cornyn Are Starving Ken Paxton of Republican Support
The race is close enough to steal. Talarico holds a narrow lead in the latest surveys, and a Bush-branded defection campaign targeting disaffected Republicans could be exactly what tips it.
LinkedIn founder and Democrat megadonor Reid Hoffman has already poured more than $10 million into a pro-Talarico super PAC. Talarico has shattered fundraising records, raising a reported $27 million in the first quarter of 2026 alone. The Bushes are adding what that money can't purchase – the cover of a famous Republican family's name.
Talarico is running as the reasonable alternative, parading establishment Republicans as endorsers while Club for Growth calls him "the weirdest candidate to run for U.S. Senate" and catalogs his record pushing woke gender ideology and crusading against meat consumption.
Fox News caught Talarico making his sixth-grade public school students write Obama memoirs.
This is the candidate the Bush family decided deserves Texas's Senate seat. Losing it would be catastrophic.
Why the Bush Machine Keeps Weaponizing Democrats Against Trump
Dick Cheney endorsed Kamala Harris in 2024. Liz Cheney has made defeating Trump-backed candidates her full-time occupation. The pattern isn't subtle.
Every time the conservative base picks a Trump-aligned candidate, the Republican establishment reaches for the same weapon – try to hand the race to a Democrat and let the grassroots live with the consequences.
The policies don't matter to them. Talarico is pro-abortion, anti-meat, and woke to his core – and the Bushes know it. This has never been about policy. It's about punishing voters who chose Trump's candidate over theirs.
The Bushes turned Texas red and launched two presidencies from the Lone Star State. Now they're writing checks to the leftist trying to flip it blue – because Ken Paxton had the audacity to beat their nephew with Trump's backing.
That's sabotage.
Early voting is underway right now. Texas conservatives who want to honor Trump's endorsement – and stop the Bush family's revenge tour – have the answer.
His name is Ken Paxton.
Sources:
- Staff, "Barbara Bush Donated $2,500 to PAC Supporting Leftist Texas U.S. Senate Candidate James Talarico," Breitbart, October 17, 2026.
- Staff, "Paxton Racks Up Texas Endorsements as Bitter Cornyn Runoff Hits Fever Pitch," Fox News, 2026.
- Staff, "Club for Growth PAC Endorses AG Ken Paxton in TX-SEN Race," Club for Growth, 2026.
- Staff, "Trump Endorses Ken Paxton Over GOP Incumbent John Cornyn in Texas Senate Primary," ABC News Radio, May 19, 2026.
- Staff, "George W. Bush Raises Money for Republicans, but Not Key Senate Candidate," Fox News, September 22, 2026.