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

Miami, Florida Miami ( ), officially the City of Miami, known as "the 305", "The Magic City", and "Gateway to the Americas", is a East Coast of the United States, coastal metropolis and the County seat, county seat of Miami-Dade County, Florida, Miami-Dade C ...

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 of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted ...

. He previously represented the same district from 1992 to 2000 and from 2008 to 2010. Representative Bush was born in Panama City, Florida on February 13, 1955. His wife, Bernadine Bush is from

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

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

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

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 or, informally, Nova) is a private nonprofit research university with its main campus in Davie, Florida. The university consists of 14 total colleges, centers, and schools offering over 150 programs of study. ...

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. 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 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 People from Panama City, Florida 21st-century American politicians 21st-century African-American politicians 20th-century African-American people {{Florida-politician-stub

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