Several social media posts are falsely claiming that former U.S. Bush has thrown his endorsement behind Democrat James Talarico in the Texas Senate race, in one of the country's most competitive midterm contests. Talarico faces Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, President Donald Trump’s pick.
The race is shaping up to be a unique opportunity for Democrats to shift a deep-red seat to blue and make gains in their attempt to seize control of the Senate, where 35 of the upper chamber’s seats are being contested. Republicans currently hold a 53-47 majority, and Democrats need to gain a net four seats next week to win control. At the age of 80, George W.
Bush has largely receded from political life. In September 2024, a couple of months ahead of the presidential election, his office announced he would not endorse either candidate in the race, saying he had retired from presidential politics. Newsweek contacted George W.
Bush Presidential Center’s media team and George W. Bush’s office for comment by email on Monday. In one of the posts, Mykhailo Rohoza—who describes himself as a disabled Ukrainian war veteran now living in Canada—wrote on X: "The great idiot in the red cap has made the impossible possible.
Republican former President George W. Bush is campaigning for a Democrat in Texas." The comment appeared to refer to Trump and the red hats worn by the MAGA movement. Rohoza, who has 43,000 followers on the platform, has since removed the post.
Another post, shared on X by "Corby Zone," an anonymous account which has more than 20,000 followers, shared a screenshot of an Express News article mentioning that "Bush family members" support Talarico, adding: "George W. and Laura Bush are backing James Talarico against Trump’s terrible candidate Ken Paxton." The post, which obtained nearly 750,000 views, was then reshared by other users repeating the same claim. Newsweek found no public statement from George W. Bush or Laura Bush endorsing Talarico in the Lone Star State’s close Senate race.
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