George W. Bush

=== Early political involvement ===
In [[1978 United States House of Representatives elections|the 1978 elections]], Bush ran for the House of Representatives from [[Texas's 19th congressional district]]. The retiring member, [[George H. Mahon]], had held the district for the Democratic Party since 1935. Bush's opponent, [[Kent Hance]], portrayed him as out of touch with rural Texans, and Bush lost the election with 46.8 percent of the vote to Hance's 53.2 percent.<ref name="NewsMine">{{cite news|last=Holmes|first=Michael|date=October 17, 1999|title=Bush Wasn't Always a Front-Runner|newspaper=The Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991017/aponline114059_000.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120218152807/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/aponline/19991017/aponline114059_000.htm|archive-date=February 18, 2012|access-date=September 1, 2008}}</ref>

Bush and his family moved to Washington, D.C., in 1988 to work on [[George H. W. Bush 1988 presidential campaign|his father's campaign for the U.S. presidency]].<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bush |first1=George W. |author2=Bill Adler |title=The Quotable George W. Bush: A Portrait in His Own Words |publisher=Andrews McMeel Publishing |year=2004 |isbn=978-0-7407-4154-8 |oclc=237927420}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |date=June 17, 2005 |access-date=September 1, 2008 |publisher=PBS |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/choice2000/bush/wead.html |title=George W. Bush and the religious right in the 1988 campaign of George H.W. Bush |archive-date=May 22, 2008 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080522093226/http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/choice2000/bush/wead.html |url-status=live }}</ref> He was a campaign advisor and liaison to the media, and assisted his father by campaigning across the country.<ref name="msn">{{cite encyclopedia |url=http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761581479/george_bush.html |title=George Bush |access-date=August 3, 2008 |publisher=MSN Encarta |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091028102307/http://encarta.msn.com/encyclopedia_761581479/George_Bush.html |archive-date=October 28, 2009 }}</ref> In December 1991, Bush was one of seven people named by his father to run his father's 1992 presidential [[George H. W. Bush 1992 presidential campaign|re-election campaign]] as a campaign advisor.<ref>{{cite news |title=Seven Who Will Manage Bush's 1992 Presidential Campaign |date=December 6, 1991 |work=The New York Times |url=https://nytimes.com/1991/12/06/us/seven-who-will-manage-bush-s-1992-presidential-campaign.html |access-date=June 23, 2009 |archive-date=December 20, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101220030430/http://www.nytimes.com/1991/12/06/us/seven-who-will-manage-bush-s-1992-presidential-campaign.html |url-status=live }}</ref> The previous month, his father had asked him to tell White House chief of staff [[John H. Sununu]] to resign.<ref>{{cite magazine|last1=White|first1=Jack E.|last2=Barrett|first2=Laurence I.|date=December 16, 1991|title=The White House: Clearing the Decks|magazine=Time|url=http://time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,974468,00.html|access-date=November 25, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080724161725/http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0%2C9171%2C974468%2C00.html|archive-date=July 24, 2008}}</ref>