Jeb Bush is the latest presidential nominee to spotlight his family history with addiction during their campaign. A new campaign ad, which debuted today, features the former Florida governor talking about his daughter’s drug addiction at a town hall last week.
He apparently got her permission, though somewhat after-the-fact. “I have personal experience in this as a dad,” Bush tells town hall attendees in the video. “My daughter, Noelle, was addicted to drugs. Today, I called her to tell her I was going to talk about her in this public setting. It’s not easy to do. And she said, ‘Go. Do it. I want to help.'”
Noelle’s addiction to drugs while her father was serving as governor of Florida was well-documented by the media. Now 38, and “many years” into recovery, Noelle was arrested on numerous drug charges in 2002 and spent a total of 13 days in jail.
Bush first spoke about his daughter’s addiction and incarceration on the presidential campaign trail last fall, and again at the forum on addiction and town hall meeting last week. He also wrote about it in a post on Medium.com. In the post, he also outlined his strategy for addressing the problem if he were elected, which would include prevention through education, expanding recovery programs and stemming the flow of drugs across the border.
The video airs this week as part of Bush’s final push to win over voters in New Hampshire, where the Republican primary will take place on February 9. Current polls show Bush in sixth place with 8.7% support.
Check out the video here:
