--- title: Jeb Bush Labeled Himself 'Hispanic' on a 2009 Voter Form description: Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush mischaracterized himself as Hispanic in a voter-registration application in 2009, according to a new report. canonical: https://time.com/3772081/jeb-bush-hispanic/ author: Sam Frizell article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-06T14:21:27.000Z article:modified_time: 2023-12-15T04:36:59.000Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeb Bush Once Labeled Himself 'Hispanic' og:description: It's unclear where the mistake was made og:url: https://time.com/3772081/jeb-bush-hispanic/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc79ffb0cb6dcffe/698786cae20a87e068a85eaa/42-69855600.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Former Florida Governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks to supporters at an early morning GOP breakfast event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on March 18, 2015. og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeb Bush Once Labeled Himself 'Hispanic' twitter:description: It's unclear where the mistake was made twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc79ffb0cb6dcffe/698786cae20a87e068a85eaa/42-69855600.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeb Bush Once Labeled Himself 'Hispanic' ## Video: Real TIME: Jeb Bush at CPAC 2015 [Watch (HLS stream): Real TIME: Jeb Bush at CPAC 2015](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Opukemjy.m3u8) (0:59)  _Published 2015-02-27. Jeb Bush addressed his mother's comments, and outlined his views on immigration and the Common Core during his Q&A at CPAC 2015._ by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Updated: Dec 15, 2023 4:36 AM UTCPublished: Apr 6, 2015 2:21 PM UTC  Former Florida Governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks to supporters at an early morning GOP breakfast event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Mar. 18, 2015. Former Florida Governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks to supporters at an early morning GOP breakfast event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on Mar. 18, 2015.Richard Ellis—ZUMA Press/Corbis by [Sam Frizell](https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/) ## Sam Frizell Updated: Dec 15, 2023 4:36 AM UTCPublished: Apr 6, 2015 2:21 PM UTC Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush [mischaracterized himself as Hispanic](http://www.nytimes.com/politics/first-draft/2015/04/06/jeb-bushs-deep-ties-to-hispanics-show-even-in-voter-form/) in a voter-registration application in 2009, according to a new report. The New York _Times_, citing a voter-registration application obtained from the Miami-Dade County Elections Department, reports that Bush marked Hispanic in the field labeled “race/ethnicity.” Bush’s wife is Mexican-born and he has close ties with Hispanic leaders that have Republicans hoping he could make inroads with the fast-growing demographic in the 2016 presidential race. But he is, of course, the white son of former President George H.W. Bush. “It’s unclear where the paperwork error was made,” said a Bush spokesperson in an email. “The Governor’s family certainly got a good laugh out of it. He is not Hispanic.” Bush referenced his faux pas in jest on Twitter. > [](https://twitter.com/JebBush/status/585091719550656512) Bush, a likely presidential candidate, is fluent in Spanish, has lived in Venezuela, and supports immigration reform. Univision has called him a “[Hispanic candidate](http://mediamatters.org/blog/2015/03/02/latino-media-tout-jeb-bush-as-a-hispanic-candid/202631).” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3772081/jeb-bush-hispanic/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3772081/jeb-bush-hispanic/"},"headline":"Jeb Bush Once Labeled Himself 'Hispanic'","datePublished":"2015-04-06T14:21:27.000Z","dateModified":"2023-12-15T04:36:59.000Z","description":"It's unclear how the mistake was made","url":"https://time.com/3772081/jeb-bush-hispanic/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic","jeb bush","hispanic"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc79ffb0cb6dcffe/698786cae20a87e068a85eaa/42-69855600.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sam Frizell","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sam-frizell/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltdc79ffb0cb6dcffe/698786cae20a87e068a85eaa/42-69855600.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Former Florida Governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks to supporters at an early morning GOP breakfast event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on March 18, 2015.","caption":"Former Florida Governor and potential Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush speaks to supporters at an early morning GOP breakfast event in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, on March 18, 2015.","creditText":"Richard Ellis—ZUMA Press/Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3772081/jeb-bush-hispanic/","name":"Jeb Bush Once Labeled Himself 'Hispanic'"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Real TIME: Jeb Bush at CPAC 2015","description":"Jeb Bush addressed his mother's comments, and outlined his views on immigration and the Common Core during his Q&A at CPAC 2015.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/Opukemjy/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-02-27T21:32:38.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/Opukemjy.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3772081/jeb-bush-hispanic/","duration":"PT59S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3772081/jeb-bush-hispanic/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```