George W. Bush congratulates Joe Biden on winning White House, sending message to GOP about election’s outcome

Updated at 2:12 p.m.: Revised to include comment from the Trump campaign.

WASHINGTON — Former President George W. Bush on Sunday congratulated President-elect Joe Biden on winning the White House, sending a strong message to his fellow Republicans about the legitimacy of an election that President Donald Trump has refused to concede.

Bush, a Dallas resident, said in a news release that he spoke on the phone to Biden and Vice President-elect Kamala Harris.

“Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country,” Bush said. “The President-elect reiterated that while he ran as a Democrat, he will govern for all Americans.”

He added: “No matter how you voted, your vote counted.”

“President Trump has the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges, and any unresolved issues will be properly adjudicated,” he said. “The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear.”

The Texan’s statement made him the nation’s most prominent Republican to confirm the election’s outcome, putting him at odds with Trump and many of the current president’s GOP allies, who’ve continued to make baseless claims that election fraud allowed Biden to steal a win.

Bush nodded at the fraught moment, saying the “challenges that face our country will demand the best of President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris – and the best of us all.”

“We must come together for the sake of our families and neighbors, and for our nation and its future,” he said, adding that he and his wife, Laura, “pray for our leaders and their families.” “There is no problem that will not yield to the gathered will of a free people.”

Asked to comment on Bush’s statement, the Trump campaign referred back to the president’s statement from Saturday that “this election is far from over.”

“We all know why Joe Biden is rushing to falsely pose as the winner, and why his media allies are trying so hard to help him: they don’t want the truth to be exposed,” Trump said, then vowing to “not rest until the American people have the honest vote count they deserve and that Democracy demands.”

The president, who golfed Sunday at a course he owns in northern Virginia, took to Twitter on Sunday afternoon to again criticize the race being called for Biden.

“Since when does the Lamestream Media call who our next president will be?” he said. “We have all learned a lot in the last two weeks!”

It remains to be seen how Bush’s move will reverberate through the GOP, given that the former president’s standing in the modern-day Republican Party is unclear.

There’s always been tension between Bush and Trump, particularly after Trump criticized the former president as he blasted Bush’s brother Jeb during the 2016 White House campaign and then Bush revealed on Election Day that year that he voted “none of the above” for president.

Bush has avoided publicly criticizing Trump over the last four years, keeping with his post-White House practice of not weighing in on his successors. But the two have also kept their distance over Trump’s tenure, appearing together in public only twice during that time.

One of those instances was for Trump’s inauguration – where Democrat Hillary Clinton claims Bush privately expressed bewilderment at Trump’s bleak “American carnage” speech.

Bush on Sunday made a point to “congratulate President Trump and his supporters on a hard-fought campaign.” The former president noted that the current one “earned the votes of more than 70 million Americans – an extraordinary political achievement.

“They have spoken, and their voices will continue to be heard through elected Republicans at every level of government,” said Bush, who didn’t participate in the Republican National Convention in either 2016 or 2020.

But the reality is that the former president, who’s continued to donate to down-ballot GOP candidates, has the luxury of being a Republican whose political career is finished. That means he doesn’t need to fear retribution from Trump and his supporters in any coming elections.

Many current GOP office holders, particularly those with White House ambitions, have either declined to acknowledge Biden’s win or have even stoked the unsubstantiated fraud allegations.

“Former Vice President Biden is beholden to the Communist Chinese, and now, he’s trying to STEAL the White House,” Rep.-elect Ronny Jackson, a Republican and former White House physician from the Texas Panhandle, wrote on Twitter just before Bush released his statement.

Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, hours before Bush weighed in, said Sunday on Fox News that “President Trump still has a path to victory.”

The Republican referred back to his own work on Bush’s Florida recount team in the 2000 presidential election, which didn’t see Bush declared the victor over Democrat Al Gore until Dec. 13 after multiple legal fights and action from the Florida Supreme Court and the U.S. Supreme Court.

In that election, the major TV networks initially projected Gore as the winner, only to retract their projections hours later when additional returns showed a Bush surge.

“I would expect a similar process to play out here, despite the media trying to tell everyone, ‘Give up, go home, we know who we want to win,’” Cruz said. “That’s not how it works.”

While the fight in 2000 focused on one state, Trump would need the results in multiple states to be overturned to somehow emerge victorious. In any case, Bush on Sunday made no reference to that battle from two decades ago.

Bush has been joined by some prominent Republicans in congratulating Biden on victory.

Utah Sen. Mitt Romney – the GOP’s 2012 presidential nominee who’s often been at odds with Trump – has been arguably the most notable Republican in Congress to buck Trump over his refusal to concede, making a statement by calling Biden the president-elect.

“Every nation in the world is watching what the president of the United States says,” he said Sunday on Fox News. “It’s important for the cause of democracy and freedom that we don’t allege fraud and theft and so forth unless there’s very clear evidence of that.”

He continued: “At this stage, that evidence hasn’t been produced.”

It’s traditionally been de rigueur for ex-presidents to offer some kind of support for an incoming commander in chief, in part to reinforce a peaceful transfer of power. Bush issued a similar statement the day after the 2016 election was called, congratulating Trump.

“Laura and I wish the President-elect, Melania, and the entire Trump family all our very best as they take on an awesome responsibility and begin an exciting new chapter in their lives,” he said then. “We pray for the success of our country and the success of our new President.”

Bush on Sunday nodded at that track record, sharing a bit of what he told Biden.

“I offered him the same thing I offered Presidents Trump and Obama: my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can,” he said.

Here is Bush’s statement in its entirety:

“I just talked to the President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden. I extended my warm congratulations and thanked him for the patriotic message he delivered last night. I also called Kamala Harris to congratulate her on her historic election to the vice presidency. Though we have political differences, I know Joe Biden to be a good man, who has won his opportunity to lead and unify our country. The President-elect reiterated that while he ran as a Democrat, he will govern for all Americans. I offered him the same thing I offered Presidents Trump and Obama: my prayers for his success, and my pledge to help in any way I can. I want to congratulate President Trump and his supporters on a hard-fought campaign. He earned the votes of more than 70 million Americans – an extraordinary political achievement. They have spoken, and their voices will continue to be heard through elected Republicans at every level of government. The fact that so many of our fellow citizens participated in this election is a positive sign of the health of our democracy and a reminder to the world of its strength. No matter how you voted, your vote counted. President Trump has the right to request recounts and pursue legal challenges, and any unresolved issues will be properly adjudicated. The American people can have confidence that this election was fundamentally fair, its integrity will be upheld, and its outcome is clear. The challenges that face our country will demand the best of President-elect Biden and Vice President-elect Harris – and the best of us all. We must come together for the sake of our families and neighbors, and for our nation and its future. There is no problem that will not yield to the gathered will of a free people. Laura and I pray for our leaders and their families. We ask for God’s continued blessings on our country. And we urge all Americans to join us in wishing our next President and Vice President well as they prepare to take up their important duties.”