James Drew Bush III (born February 13, 1955) is a

Miami, Florida Miami is a East Coast of the United States, coastal city in the U.S. state of Florida and the county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade County in South Florida. It is the core of the Miami metropolitan area, which, with a populat ...

teacher and Democratic politician who served as the representative for District 109 of the

Florida House of Representatives The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the State legislature (United States), state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the C ...

. He previously represented the same district from 1992 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2010. Representative Bush was born in

Panama City, Florida Panama City is a city in and the county seat of Bay County, Florida, United States. Located along U.S. Route 98 in Florida, U.S. Highway 98 (US 98), it is the largest city between Tallahassee, Florida, Tallahassee and Pensacola, Florida, Pe ...

on February 13, 1955. His wife, Bernadine Bush is from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is a Administrative divisions of New York (state), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York and county seat of Erie County, New York, Erie County. It lies in Western New York at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of ...

. He graduated from Miami Northwestern Senior High School in 1974. Bush earned his

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree from Bethune-Cookman College in 1979 and his Master of Science in Educational Administration and Supervision from

Nova Southeastern University Nova Southeastern University (NSU) is a Private university, private research university in Florida with its main campus in Fort Lauderdale-Davie, Florida, Davie, Florida, United States. The university consists of 14 colleges, offering over ...

in 1984. He made an unsuccessful bid for Florida Commissioner of Education in 2000. In 2010, he ran for Congress in the 17th District, losing to state senator

Frederica Wilson Frederica Smith Wilson (born Frederica Patricia Smith, November 5, 1942) is an American politician who has been a member of the United States House of Representatives since 2011, representing . Located in South Florida, Wilson's congressional dis ...

. In 2004, he earned his D.Min- Christian Ed. at Smith Chapel Bible College. Since returning to the legislature, Bush garnered a conservative record; voting for controversial bills put forward by

Ron DeSantis Ronald Dion DeSantis (; born September 14, 1978) is an American politician, attorney, and former United States Navy, naval officer serving as the 46th List of governors of Florida, governor of Florida since 2019. A member of the Republican Pa ...

namely the "Don't Say Gay" bill. Earning the ire of many in Tallahassee and the Democratic party's liberal and progressive wings, Bush lost reelection in 2022 to Ashley Gantt and since neither candidate faces a general election opponent the primary was tantamount to victory.

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Representative James Bush III
''official Florida House of Representatives site'' * Bethune–Cookman University alumni Nova Southeastern University alumni Democratic Party members of the Florida House of Representatives 1955 births Living people Politicians from Panama City, Florida 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American politicians 21st-century members of the Florida Legislature {{Florida-FLRepresentative-Democratic-stub

See also

References

External links