George W. Bush’s Daughter Campaigns for Kamala Harris

In a surprising endorsement for a presidential candidate from the opposing party, Barbara Pierce Bush has voiced her support for Vice President Kamala Harris in the upcoming election. With just days before Americans head to the polls on November 5, Bush, daughter of former President George W. Bush, shared her hope for a Harris victory.

“It was inspiring to join friends and meet voters with the Harris-Walz campaign in Pennsylvania this weekend,” Bush, 42, told PEOPLE exclusively on Tuesday, October 29. “I’m hopeful they’ll move our country forward and protect women’s rights.”

The endorsement comes as a notable move within Bush’s traditionally conservative family, whose political legacy includes her father, George W. Bush, president from 2001 to 2009, and her grandfather, George H.W. Bush, who led the nation from 1989 to 1993.

Bush’s mother, former First Lady Laura Bush, publicly broke with party lines in 2010, advocating for same-sex marriage and supporting a woman’s right to choose. “Abortion should remain legal because I think it’s important for people, for medical reasons and other reasons,” Laura Bush told PEOPLE.

Barbara Bush, co-founder of the health nonprofit Global Health Corps, has a long history of championing women’s health rights. In 2017, she delivered a speech at a Planned Parenthood fundraiser, proclaiming, “I am proud to stand with Planned Parenthood not only because women, regardless of where they are from, deserve to live dignified, healthy lives … because it’s a really good investment.” Her comments underscored her belief that when women are healthy, their families and communities flourish.

Throughout her career, Bush has been described as politically independent. Despite her Republican family ties, she has often charted her own path on key social issues. Her support for Harris adds to the list of former Republican insiders endorsing the Vice President in 2024, including former Vice President Dick Cheney, whose daughter Liz Cheney, a former Wyoming congresswoman, has been an outspoken critic of divisive politics and an advocate for the current administration’s policies.

This year’s election has seen significant bipartisan movement, with Susan Ford Bales, daughter of former President Gerald Ford, also endorsing Harris. “America cannot regress back to a divisive paradigm of loathing toward one another and disdain for our Constitution,” Bales wrote on October 21, referencing the January 6 Capitol riots as a tragic chapter the nation must never revisit.

As a mother of two and public health advocate with a Harvard master’s degree in public administration, Barbara Bush has often used her platform to promote women’s rights and public health.

In 2017, she co-authored a memoir with her twin sister Jenna Bush Hager, now a host on NBC’s Today, where Jenna recently praised Barbara as a driving force in her own career. “She makes me feel brave and empowered because she was my first audience,” Jenna told PEOPLE.