Barbara Bush, a daughter of former President George W. Bush, wrote a $2,500 check this quarter to the political action committee that is propping up Democrat James Talarico’s bid for the U.S. Senate in Texas.
Federal Election Commission records document the contribution. Fox News Digital reviewed the filings.
The recipient, Lone Star Rising PAC, is the main outside group supporting Talarico. Houston Public Media reported that the committee accounts for nearly all of the outside spending on his behalf.
Talarico is running against Republican Ken Paxton. The contest carries implications for which party controls the Senate.
Bush is not the only recognizable name among the PAC’s donors. Don Henley of the Eagles gave $150,000, a sum far larger than her contribution.
Even so, her gift places a member of one of America’s best-known Republican families on the list of people financing the Democrat’s campaign.
Talarico has made the role of money in elections a talking point. He has said Paxton and Sen. John Cornyn, R-Texas, want “corporations and billionaires to decide our elections, not Texans.”
He has also addressed his own reliance on outside groups. The Texas Tribune reported that Talarico said he will not “unilaterally disarm” while Republicans use political action committees.
Andrew Cates, a Texas campaign finance expert, told Houston Public Media that the way Bush made her contribution caught his attention. He pointed to the type of organization that received it.
Federal rules require a PAC to disclose its donors, so her name appears in public records. Cates compared that with a different kind of group.
“She didn’t give it to a 501(c)(4), in which her contribution would’ve been completely anonymous. She gave it to a PAC that reports all the money in and out,” Cates said.
Bush’s filing lists a Brooklyn address in the Clinton Hill neighborhood.
The donation arrives during a long-running rift between her father and President Donald Trump. Tension between the two men dates to the 2016 campaign.
During that race, Trump mocked members of the Bush family. His targets included the former president’s mother and brother.
Bush is the twin sister of NBC host Jenna Bush Hager. She shares her name with her late grandmother, former first lady Barbara Bush.
She holds a job at the National Basketball Association, where she serves as vice president of social impact and inclusion.
According to the George W. Bush Presidential Center, her international work draws on the “convening power of basketball.”
The center says the humanitarian initiatives she leads involve social justice, “health equity” and sustainability.
Bush also co-founded Global Health Corps. The organization helps young people tackle global health challenges.
She and Hager have co-written several children’s books.
Talarico and Paxton are now competing for a seat that could shift the balance of power in Washington.
The reports Lone Star Rising files with the Federal Election Commission will show who continues to fund the effort backing Talarico.
