Walker: Bush ‘a name from the past’
Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker’s first publicized shots at GOP rivals since officially declaring his White House bid were focused on former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush.
During an interview with ABC News released moments after he confirmed his 2016 bid on Twitter, Walker suggested that Bush could not defeat Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton.
{mosads}“I don’t think a name from the past beats a name from the past. I think you need a name from the future,’ Walker told ABC, adding that voters “want a new, fresh face to lead this country going forward.”
“Not just Republicans, but I hear a whole lot of independents and even some discerning Democrats say that,” Walker added in the interview, which was conducted Sunday and released Monday.
Walker, 47, joins Sen. Marco Rubio, 44, in casting Bush, 62, as a figure from the past in the crowded GOP primary field.
“The Republican Party, for the first time in a long time, has a chance in this election to be the party of the future,” Rubio said in announcing his White House campaign in mid-April.
“Just yesterday, we heard from a leader from yesterday who wants to take us back to yesterday, but I feel that this country has always been about tomorrow,” Rubio said, referring to Clinton, 67.
Bush is leading in some polls and is seen as the frontrunner given his political connections, his famous family and his fundraising prowess.
Walker and Rubio are both competing for the backing of establishment figures and donors in the GOP.
Walker, the final top-tier GOP candidate to declare his bid, said in a tweet and Facebook note early Monday that he was running “because Americans deserve a leader who will fight and win for them.”
“America needs new, fresh leadership with big, bold ideas from outside of Washington to actually get things done,” Walker said in a launch video, suggesting other candidates “haven’t won” the battles he has.