Jonathan Bush has been a healthcare entrepreneur for over two decades, and now looks poised to enter the 2026 race as soon as next week. 

He has been formally exploring a run since July and his cousins, former President George W. Bush and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush, headlined an August fundraiser for him at the family compound in Kennebunkport, the Bangor Daily News reported.

Roughly 65 people attended the event at Walker's Point, with each of them paying $2,075 for a table.

In a news release this week, Bush, 56, said he'd be making a 'major announcement' on Wednesday.

'I've had conversations with people all over the state, and I'm hearing the same thing almost everywhere,' Bush said in a written statement to the Portland Press Herald.

'Mainers want a leader who will shake up the status quo in Augusta. They want a proven job creator who will make sure our kids don't have to leave the state to achieve the American Dream. I can't wait to gather with friends next week and talk about the next step in this exciting journey.'

The event will take place on the campus of Athenahealth, the multi-billion-dollar company he founded in 1997. He stepped down as CEO in 2018 before it was sold for $17 billion in 2022.

Bush, assuming he runs as a Republican, is not likely to align himself with the MAGA movement, as he has called President Donald Trump 'personally troubled'. 

And in December 2023, he donated $50,000 to a super PAC that was in support of Nikki Haley, Trump's main rival in the 2024 Republican primaries.

He has not given much to Maine politicians but has supported Senator Susan Collins, a moderate Republican who voted against Trump's Big Beautiful Bill.

Bush has also praised Maine's incumbent Democratic Governor Janet Mills, who will not be running next year because of term limits, for keeping the 'the lunatic fringe' of her party at bay.

If Bush were to win next year, he would be putting his family back in the spotlight after a very quiet decade.