Former President George W. Bush does not plan to reveal whom he will vote for in the upcoming 2024 election.
“No,” the former president’s office said when asked by NBC News whether he or former First Lady Laura Bush would endorse a candidate publicly. “President Bush retired from presidential politics years ago.”
Bush’s refusal to make a public endorsement comes just a day after his former vice president, Dick Cheney, announced that he would go against his party’s candidate and support Vice President Kamala Harris in November.
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Former U.S. President George W. Bush looks on before kickoff between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants at AT&T Stadium on November 12, 2023, in Arlington, Texas. (Photo by Cooper Neill/Getty Images)
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said in a statement. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”
Trump responded to Cheney’s endorsement by calling the former vice president “an irrelevant RINO” in a Truth Social post shortly after Cheney’s announcement.
Speaking to reporters Sunday, Harris said she was “honored” to have Cheney’s endorsement, adding that it “really reinforces for them that we love our country, and we have more in common than what separates.”
The Harris campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment on Bush’s silence.
Democratic presidential nominee and U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris delivers remarks at a campaign rally in Savannah, Georgia, August 29, 2024. Reuters/Elizabeth Frantz (Reuters)
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While Bush’s office argued the former president “retired from presidential politics years ago,” he has made endorsements of Republican presidential candidates in the past. In 2008, he supported then-Senator John McCain’s bid against former President Barack Obama and also threw his weight behind the 2012 candidacy of Sen. Mitt Romney, R-Utah.
Bush’s stance on presidential politics seemingly changed with the emergence of former President Donald Trump in 2016, whom Bush avoided commenting on. Bush instead focused on supporting Republican senators. In November, his office said that he and the former first lady did not vote for either major party candidate in the 2016 election.
Republican presidential nominee and former U.S. President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally held with Republican vice presidential nominee Senator JD Vance, in Atlanta, Georgia, August 3, 2024. Reuters/Megan Varner
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After Trump’s failed bid for re-election in 2020, Bush said that he had written in former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice in that year’s race.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a Fox News Digital request for comment.