--- title: Jeb Bush On Campaign Fundraising: Tough Luck If Critics Don't Like It description: The former Florida Governor says he's playing by the rules and it's not his fault his rivals couldn't keep up. canonical: https://time.com/3981626/jeb-bush-campaign-republican-money/ author: Philip Elliott article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-08-03T01:30:32.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:27.324Z article:section: Politics og:title: Jeb Bush On Campaign Fundraising: Tough Luck If Critics Don't Like It og:description: The former Florida Governor says he's playing by the rules and it's not his fault his rivals couldn't keep up. og:url: https://time.com/3981626/jeb-bush-campaign-republican-money/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3195c082c5f24d4/69885b972dce013bb99e4b3c/jeb-bush1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 2560 og:image:height: 1440 og:image:alt: Jeb Bush og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Jeb Bush On Campaign Fundraising: Tough Luck If Critics Don't Like It twitter:description: The former Florida Governor says he's playing by the rules and it's not his fault his rivals couldn't keep up. twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3195c082c5f24d4/69885b972dce013bb99e4b3c/jeb-bush1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Jeb Bush on His Campaign Cash: Tough Luck if Critics Don't Like It > Sponsored content. 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It is written and edited by TIME journalists, and it is free to join at [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=18b64e81-9182-4294-a731-ced023bf0ac3&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1). ### Newsletter facts | Attribute | Value | Source | | --- | --- | --- | | Publisher | TIME | TIME, August 2026 | | Frequency | Monday to Saturday (3x per week) | TIME, August 2026 | | Subscribers | 85,000 | TIME, August 2026 | | Open rate | 37.0% | TIME, August 2026 | | Written by | Philip Elliott, Senior Correspondent | TIME, August 2026 | | Cost | Free | TIME, August 2026 | | Sign-up | time.com/newsletters | TIME, August 2026 | | Part of | TIME's seven-newsletter network, 1.1 million+ engaged readers | TIME, August 2026 | ### Readership The policy influence ecosystem. A policy-focused audience spanning government, public affairs, advocacy, law, research, political media, and the institutions that make, interpret and respond to public policy. ### TIME D.C. Brief: key statements * D.C. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. ## Video: See Jeb Bush's Political Career Through the Years [Watch (HLS stream): See Jeb Bush's Political Career Through the Years](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3nRIB78f.m3u8) (2:37)  _Published 2015-06-12. From his unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 1994 through his decision to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, here are some of the top moments from Jeb Bush's political career._  by [Philip Elliott / Dana Point, Calif.](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott / Dana Point, Calif. Senior Correspondent Aug 3, 2015 1:30 AM UTC  Republican presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at the Maverick PAC conference in Las Vegas on July 17, 2015. Republican presidential candidate former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush speaks at the Maverick PAC conference in Las Vegas on July 17, 2015. John Locher—AP  by [Philip Elliott / Dana Point, Calif.](https://time.com/author/philip-elliott/)  ## Philip Elliott / Dana Point, Calif. Senior Correspondent Aug 3, 2015 1:30 AM UTC Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has no apologies for using a network of political committees to out-raise his rivals for the Republican presidential nomination. “You are officially certified as the $120 million man,” Politico’s Mike Allen said to Bush during an on-stage interview at a summit of GOP mega-donors. “What’s the question?” Bush deadpanned. “How much is too much?” Allen pressed. “I don’t know. But I think you might as well frontload it if you can. This is along haul. Are we supposed to just warm up and work your way into it? Am I missing something here?” Bush said. Bush’s campaign raised $11.4 million and the Super PAC supporting him collected more than $103 million so far, according to finance filings. Another political committee backing Bush brought in almost $5.4 million. Of the $120 million the groups have collected, they have spent less than $14 million so far. “Money helps. I’m playing by the rules of the game the way it’s laid out,” said Bush, who worked with the political committees before officially becoming a candidate. He also sent several of his former top advisers to outside groups to manage the unlimited cash machines. “If people don’t like it, that’s just tough luck,” he added. Bush’s lack of concern over collecting large amounts of money was shared by the 450 mega-donors who were meeting this weekend at events organized by conservative billionaires Charles and David Koch. Together, they plan to spend $889 million on non-profits, activism and politics before Election Day 2016. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3981626/jeb-bush-campaign-republican-money/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3981626/jeb-bush-campaign-republican-money/"},"headline":"Jeb Bush on His Campaign Cash: Tough Luck if Critics Don't Like It","datePublished":"2015-08-03T01:30:32.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:27.324Z","description":"The former Florida Governor says he's playing by the rules and it's not his fault his rivals couldn't keep up.","url":"https://time.com/3981626/jeb-bush-campaign-republican-money/","keywords":["jeb bush","2016 Election","Fundraising","Super PAC","Republican"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3195c082c5f24d4/69885b972dce013bb99e4b3c/jeb-bush1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Philip Elliott / Dana Point, Calif."}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd3195c082c5f24d4/69885b972dce013bb99e4b3c/jeb-bush1.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Jeb Bush","caption":"Jeb Bush","creditText":"John Locher—AP","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/jeb-bush/","name":"jeb bush"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3981626/jeb-bush-campaign-republican-money/","name":"Jeb Bush on His Campaign Cash: Tough Luck if Critics Don't Like It"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"See Jeb Bush's Political Career Through the Years","description":"From his unsuccessful gubernatorial campaign in 1994 through his decision to seek the Republican presidential nomination in 2016, here are some of the top moments from Jeb Bush's political career.","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/3nRIB78f/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-12T22:49:40.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/3nRIB78f.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3981626/jeb-bush-campaign-republican-money/","duration":"PT2M37S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3981626/jeb-bush-campaign-republican-money/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```