Bush’s struggles highlight how politics in Texas have changed. For decades, the Bush family was GOP royalty. Bush’s grandfather, George H.W. Bush, first won office here in the ’60s. His uncle, George W. Bush, was an immensely popular governor. Both presidential Bushes have their libraries in the state.

But now, his ubiquitous name recognition is emerging as a liability in the Republican party. George P. Bush, who currently serves as the state’s land commissioner, is trailing Paxton in polls. Some of the top reasons Republican voters are reluctant about him are his ties to his family’s center-right political leanings and his own past policy positions…

An April poll by the Texas Hispanic Policy Foundation found that 40% of Republican primary voters said they would never vote for Bush. Two-thirds of those voters said that’s because he is a member of the Bush family. Forty-one percent said they wouldn’t vote for him because he’s not conservative enough.

“There’s the question about believability,” said Cal Jillson, a political scientist at Southern Methodist University. “People might hear those words coming out of George P.’s mouth but they don’t believe it.”