BUSH
Pierce
Barbara

• 1. Political activity

Barbara Pierce Bush is an American activist. She co-founded and is the chair of the board of the nonprofit organization Global Health Corps.

She and her fraternal twin sister, Jenna, are the daughters of the 43rd U.S. president, George W. Bush, and former first lady Laura Bush. She is also a granddaughter of the 41st U.S. president, George H. W. Bush, and former first lady Barbara Bush, after whom she is named.

Political activity

In 2011, Bush released a video with the Human Rights Campaign, the nation's largest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) civil rights organization, calling on New York State to legalize same-sex marriage. "I am Barbara Bush, and I am a New Yorker for marriage equality," she said in the brief message, sponsored by an advocacy group. "New York is about fairness and equality. And everyone should have the right to marry the person that they love.'" Bush joined other children of prominent Republican politicians—including Meghan McCain and Mary Cheney—in endorsing gay marriage.

Bush's graduation from Yale in May 2004 was given heavy media coverage. She and Jenna made several media appearances that summer prior to the 2004 U.S. presidential election, including giving a speech to the Republican Convention on August 31. She and Jenna took turns traveling to swing states with their father and also gave a seven-page interview and photo shoot in Vogue. Jenna later confirmed that she and Barbara both had developed a friendship with John Kerry's daughters, Alexandra and Vanessa, who had similarly campaigned on behalf of their own father (who was the Democratic nominee for president). Bush joined her mother on diplomatic trips to Liberia in January 2006 to attend the inauguration of President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf and to Vatican City to meet with Pope Benedict XVI in February 2006.

Unlike most of her relatives (but like her twin sister Jenna), Bush is not a member of the Republican Party. In 2010, Bush and her sister told People that they preferred not to identify with any political party, stating, "We're both very independent thinkers."

In October 2024, Bush endorsed and campaigned for Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris in the 2024 U.S. presidential election.