Former President George W. Bush has made an announcement about the 2024 presidential election in November – but he’s taking a less prominent stance than his vice president.
Bush, a Republican who served from 2001 to 2009, said in a statement on Saturday that he had no plans to make a public endorsement – refusing to back Donald Trump.
‘He retired from presidential politics many years ago,’ a spokesman said, adding that neither Bush nor his wife Laura would reveal who they are voting for in November.
Bush’s bitter swipe at Trump comes after he refused to back the Republican candidate in 2020 and voted for Hillary Clinton in 2016. The last time he endorsed the GOP candidate was Mitt Romney in 2012.
Last week, Bush’s former vice president Dick Cheney sent shockwaves through the political sphere as he revealed that he plans to cross party lines and vote for Kamala Harris.
Former President George W. Bush does not endorse and candidate ahead of the 2024 election
Bush has decided not to endorse either candidate in this November’s presidential election
Cheney, who served as vice president under Bush from the duration of his two terms said on Friday that ‘in our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump.’
He added: ‘As citizens, we each have a duty to put country above partisanship to defend our Constitution. That is why I will be casting my vote for Vice President Kamala Harris.’
Cheney has faced criticism over the years from human rights groups as he played a large role in planning the U.S. wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, which produced a heavy civilian death toll and human rights abuses.
His daughter Liz Cheney, a former U.S. Representative, said on Wednesday she would vote for Harris, calling Trump a ‘danger.’
She had also been a vocal critic of the current Republican presidential candidate, including over the January 6, 2021 storming of the U.S. Capitol by Trump supporters.
Harris said on Saturday endorsements of her by the Cheneys were ‘courageous’ for them putting country ahead of political party.
‘I’m honored to have their endorsement,’ said Harris at Penzeys Spices in the Strip District, on a break from debate preparation where she greeted patrons and bought spices.
Former Rep. Liz Cheney threw her support this week behind Kamala Harris. She said on Friday that her father Dick Cheney would be voting for the vice president as well
Both Cheneys are former House Republican leaders with the elder Cheney serving two terms as George W. Bush’s Republican vice president between 2001 and 2009
Harris was in Pittsburgh preparing for the September 10 debate against her Republican rival Donald Trump, with whom she is locked in a tight race for the November 5 vote.
She said both Cheneys were making a courageous statement that ‘it’s okay, if not important, to put the country above party.’
‘And them stepping up to make this public statement, I think is courageous, but also for the folks I was just talking with, it really reinforces for them that we love our country and we have more in common than what separates us,’ Harris said.
Trump called Dick Cheney an ‘irrelevant RINO along with his daughter’ in a social media post on Friday, using a term he applies to Republicans not loyal to him, which stands for ‘Republicans in Name Only.’
Mike Pence, who served as Trump’s vice president for four years, has said he will not endorse his former boss but he has also not backed Harris.