Former President George W. Bush speaks during the Freedom Struggle Conference at the George W. Bush Presidential Center on November 16, 2022 in Dallas, Texas. T
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Former President George W. Bush does not plan to endorse a presidential candidate, his office told NBC News on Saturday.
When asked if the former president or his wife, Laura, would endorse a candidate or make public how they would vote, Bush’s office said “no.”
“President Bush retired from presidential politics years ago,” the office added.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A spokesman for Vice President Kamala Harris’ campaign declined to comment, but pointed to the campaign’s Republican outreach efforts.
Bush’s former vice president, Dick Cheney, announced on Friday that he would support Harris in the November election.
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who poses a greater threat to our democracy than Donald Trump,” Cheney said in a statement. “He tried to steal the last election by using lies and violence to stay in power after the voters rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”
Days earlier, the former vice president’s daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, said she would vote for Harris. Both Cheneys, who are Republicans, have been critical of former President Donald Trump, and the younger Cheney has been particularly outspoken.
In response to questions from reporters Saturday, Harris said she was “honored” to have Cheney’s endorsements, adding that it “really reinforces for them that we love our country and have more in common than what separates us.”
The fact that Bush is not endorsing his party’s nominee is remarkable in itself. in 2012, Bush said was supporting Republican candidate Mitt Romney over former President Barack Obama. Four years earlier, Bush endorsed the late Senator John McCain for president in 2008.
The teams of both former Presidents Bush he said in 2016 that father and son would avoid commenting on Trump. Instead, the younger Bush worked to support Republican senators. Neither Bush nor his wife voted for either major party presidential candidate in 2016, a spokesman said year.
The elder Bush died in 2018, but the younger said in 2021 that he wrote inside Former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice for President in 2020.
Several prominent moderate Republicans and former Trump administration officials have broken with the former president and endorsed Harris despite their policy differences.
The Harris campaign last month revealed more than two dozen endorsements from Republicans, including former Republican Gov. Bill Weld of Massachusetts; former Rep. Denver Riggleman of Virginia; and former Trump administration press secretary Stephanie Grisham.
Later in August, more than 200 former employees For both Presidents Bush, McCain and Romney signed a letter endorsing Harris for president.
As part of the campaign’s outreach to GOP voters, the Harris campaign hired a national Republican engagement director to focus on independent and moderate Republican voters, as well as a Republican program for Harris.
— NBC News’ Nnamdi Egwuonwu, Sarah Dean, Tara Prindiville and Monica Alba contributed to this report.
