George P. Bush Seen Likely to Win His First Election

George P. Bush appears on the way to becoming the first scion of his political family to win his first election, with an overwhelming victory forecast in his race for Texas land commissioner.

Bush, 38, is the son of former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, the grandson of former President George H.W. Bush, and the nephew of former President George W. Bush. He has raised more than $3 million in his race against little-known Democratic challenger John Cook, a former El Paso mayor, reports Fox News Latino.

In addition, Republicans have not lost a statewide office in Texas since 1994, adding to Bush's chances of taking that office. If he wins on Tuesday, Bush, a Fort Worth lawyer and energy consultant, will be the first Bush to win his first election — including the family patriarch, long-serving Connecticut Sen. Prescott Bush, the source of the younger Bush's middle name.

On his grandfather's first try, he lost a U.S. Senate race in Texas in 1964, and his uncle, the other presidential relative, lost his first congressional bid in 1978. Meanwhile, Bush's own father needed two tries before he was elected as Florida governor, and his great-grandfather namesake lost his first Senate race in 1950.

"This election is George P. Bush's coming-out party in Texas politics," Mark P. Jones, the head of the Rice University political science department, told The Washington Post. "[He] views himself as providing the bridge to the future of the Republican Party."

In Texas, the land commissioner administers publicly held lands, oversees mineral rights for oil and gas concerns, and advocates for military veterans. The job also entails controlling revenue from the sector financing the Permanent School Fund, which recently slipped past Harvard University's fund as the largest educational endowment in the United States.

Bush said he focused on the office because it fit his qualifications, which include former stints as a teacher in Miami and an eight-month tour in Afghanistan, where he served with U.S. Naval Intelligence while using an assumed name.

But the land commissioner's job has led to higher positions for other politicians, including for Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst, who was land commissioner before joining the governor's office in 2003.

Bush also attracts the Hispanic vote, as his mother, Columba, is from Mexico and he speaks fluent Spanish, and he says he is able to reach Latinos and young people, as he is a member of both groups.

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