Former President George W. Bush speaks during the Struggle for Freedom Conference at 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 candidate for president, his office told NBC News on Saturday.
When asked whether the former president or his wife, Laura, would endorse a candidate or make public how they will 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 spokesperson 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 back Harris in the November election.
“In our nation’s 248-year history, there has never been an individual who is a greater threat to our republic than Donald Trump,” Cheney said in a statement. “He tried to steal the last election using lies and violence to keep himself in power after the voters had rejected him. He can never be trusted with power again.”
Days earlier, the former vice president’s daughter, former Wyoming Rep. Liz Cheney, said that she would cast her ballot for Harris. Both Cheneys, who are Republicans, have been critical of former President Donald Trump, and the younger Cheney has been especially outspoken.
Responding to reporters’ questions on Saturday, Harris said that she was “honored” to have the Cheneys’ endorsements, adding that it “really reinforces for them that we love our country, and we have more in common than what separates.”
The fact that Bush is not endorsing his party’s nominee is itself notable. In 2012, Bush said he was backing Republican candidate Mitt Romney against former President Barack Obama. Four years earlier, Bush endorsed the now-late Sen. John McCain for president in 2008.
Both former Bush presidents’ teams said in 2016 that the 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 nominee in 2016, a spokesperson said that year.
The elder Bush president died in 2018, but the younger said in 2021 that he wrote in 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 backed Harris, despite having policy differences.
The Harris campaign last month unveiled 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 staffers for both Bush presidents, 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 Republicans for Harris program.
— NBC News’ Nnamdi Egwuonwu, Sarah Dean, Tara Prindiville and Monica Alba contributed to this report.