Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush marked himself down as Hispanic on a voter registration form that asked for his “race/ethnicity” in 2009, according to a document posted online by The New York Times.
The paper said it obtained the document from the Miami-Dade County Elections Department.
Bush was born to two white parents. But he speaks Spanish, married a woman born in Mexico and once lived in Venezuela.
The Daily Caller has reached out to a spokeswoman for Bush’s political action committee to ask for more information.
Such a claim could be problematic politically, if it wasn’t a mistake: In 2012, for example, while running for the U.S. Senate in Massachusetts, Democrat Elizabeth Warren faced weeks of questions after it was revealed she had described herself as a Native American minority in the past even though she identifies today as Caucasian.
UPDATE: Bush says it was mistake. Bush’s son, Jeb Bush Jr., first responded to the story by cracking on Twitter: “LOL – come on dad, think you checked the wrong box.”
Jeb Bush’s 2009 Voter-Reg Application http://t.co/MLQwjorT9U @JebBush LOL – come on dad, think you checked the wrong box #HonoraryLatino
— Jeb Bush, Jr. (@JebBushJr) April 6, 2015
Bush himself then responded on Twitter by calling it a “mistake.”
My mistake! Don’t think I’ve fooled anyone! RT @JebBushJr LOL – come on dad, think you checked the wrong box #HonoraryLatino
— Jeb Bush (@JebBush) April 6, 2015