Maine gubernatorial candidate Mary Mayhew is getting a financial boost from the younger brother of former President George H.W. Bush in her bid for the 2018 Republican nomination.

Mayhew, the former commissioner of the Department of Health and Human Services, said Jonathan Bush Sr. was hosting a fundraiser for her campaign Tuesday at his home on North Haven Island. There was no minimum donation to attend the invitation-only event.

Bush, 86, is a former investment banker with Riggs Investment.

He is also father to Billy Bush, the former “Access Hollywood” correspondent and radio personality who was infamously overheard in a videotape released during the 2016 presidential campaign of a 2005 conversation between him and Donald Trump, in which Trump described kissing and “grabbing” women without their permission.

Bush Sr. has a second son, Jonathan Bush Jr., who is the chief executive officer of Athenahealth, a health care technology company that has offices in Belfast.

Mayhew announced her campaign for the governor’s office in June, just days after she resigned her position in the cabinet of Republican Gov. Paul LePage. She is the only Republican in an already crowded field of candidates that also includes eight Democrats, two Green Party members, one Libertarian and one independent.

In 2014, former President George H.W. Bush and his wife Barbara endorsed LePage’s reelection campaign in a letter to the editor of the Portland Press Herald. LePage initially backed former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush, son of George H.W. Bush, in his bid for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination. LePage threw his support to Trump after Jeb Bush ended his run.

Sen. Susan Collins also has said she is considering a run for governor and will make her decision in the fall. Collins, a Republican, also has enjoyed the support of members of the Bush family. In 2002, then-President George W. Bush stumped for Collins at a reception in Scarborough.

Mayhew had raised $78,150 for her privately financed campaign and had a cash balance of $66,005 on hand at the end of the most recent filing period, which closed on June 30, according to the campaign finance report she filed with the Maine Commission on Governmental Ethics and Election Practices on July 17.

Scott Thistle can be contacted at 791-6330 or at:

sthistle@pressherald.com

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