COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Former President George H.W. Bush and First Lady Barbara Bush have endorsed Sally Atwater’s campaign for South Carolina superintendent of education.
Atwater is the widow of campaign strategist Lee Atwater, who engineered wins for Ronald Reagan and the elder George Bush.
The endorsements come before a Tuesday fundraiser for Sally Atwater at the Alexandria, Va., home of Van Hipp Jr., South Carolina’s GOP chairman from 1986 to 1989. Tickets are $500 per person. A special guest will be Dorothy Bush Koch, the 41st president’s daughter.
The elder Bush promoted Lee Atwater to the chairmanship of the Republican Party after his 1988 landslide election.
Sally Atwater was widowed in 1991. She returned to South Carolina in 2012.
She is among eight Republicans and two Democrats vying to replace Superintendent Mick Zais.
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