State Representative James Bush III is a career educator, a Baptist minister, and a Florida state legislator from Brownsville. He has served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives from the 109th District for over fourteen (14) years, from 1992 – 2000, from 2008 – 2010, and from 2018 – 2022. Bush was born in Panama City, Florida on February 13, 1955, and grew up during the Civil Rights era. He was the first Black person born in Panama City to be elected to a Statewide office in the State of Florida. When Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in 1968, Bush’s father, also a Baptist minister, took him to the funeral in Atlanta. The experience inspired Mr. Bush to train in the Kingian philosophy and he completed multiple levels of training under the guidance of Coretta Scott King.1

State Representative Bush’s family moved to Miami and he graduated from Miami Northwestern Senior High School in 1974. He received his Bachelor of Science degree from Bethune-Cookman College in 1979, his Master of Science in Educational Administration and Supervision from Nova Southeastern in 1984, and a Doctorate from Smith Chapel Bible College in 2004. In 1982, he began working in the Miami-Dade County Public School system and he continued working there for 34 years. He has lived in Brownsville on NW 49th Street for many decades and he has been a very involved member of Antioch Baptist Church.

Bush worked closely with civil rights leader Reverend Jesse Jackson. In the 1980s, Bush served as president of the local Miami-Dade chapter of Operation PUSH (People to Save Humanity), Jesse Jackson’s national civil rights organization that was created to “improve the economic situation in Black communities across the country.”2 During his service in the Florida legislature, Bush introduced a successful bill to create the Florida Martin Luther King Jr Institute for Nonviolence, with the support of Coretta Scott King.3

Bush has served on the National Board of Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC)- served as Acting National President and Past Board Secretary; Past President of the Miami Chapter of Operation PUSH; Past First Vice-President of People United to Lead the Struggle for Equality (PULSE) and a past member of the United Teachers of Dade-serving as a Building Steward. He also has served as the Vice-President of Brownsville Civic Association and continues to work to support the residents of the Miami Dade County community.4

1 State Representative James Bush III, Oral History Interview with FIU Honors College Student Mia Stevenson, November 2020, Professor Shed Boren. Videos and transcripts on file with Plusurbia.

2 “Rights Unit Is Started By Jackson” The Miami Herald Sun, Dec 19, 1971 ·Page 40 https://www.newspapers.com/image/624148990

3 State Representative James Bush III, Oral History Interview…

4 Biography, Dr. James D. Bush III, Florida Commission on Ethics, chromeextension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj/https://www.ethics.state.fl.us/Documents/AboutUs/Members/bio/bio_bush.pdf?cp=2025215 Accessed April 30, 2025.