(RNN) - There's a new would-be heir to the Bush presidential dynasty.
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush will seek the Republican Party's nomination for president of the United States.
The youngest Bush brother made the long-anticipated announcement Monday at Miami Dade College. He joins a Republican slate that is chock full of candidates looking to reclaim the White House for the GOP after eight years of Democratic residency.
"For all of us, it is just the place to be in the campaign that begins today," Bush said to the roar of applause. "We're 17 months from the time for choosing. The stakes for America's future are about as big as they come."
Bush said he wants to "get Washington out of the business of causing problems," saying he wants to change the direction the country is headed.He joins a field that includes Marco Rubio, Rick Santorum, Mike Huckabee, Rand Paul, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Rick Perry, George Pataki, Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz.
Bush is viewed as the most established Republican in the lot. Since serving two terms as Florida's governor (1999 through 2007), he has enjoyed respect from fellow Republicans and been queried for advice from conservative leaders.
With a more centrist approach to GOP policies, Bush seems capable of gaining the votes of neoconservatives, minorities and less-radical Republican constituents. The former governor is also fluent in Spanish and seemingly sympathetic to illegal immigrants, which has proven in Florida's general election to attract Latino voters.
Bush supported education reform as the governor Florida, and during his post-gubernatorial years, he has supported Common Core. He also oversaw an effort to preserve the Everglades.
Perhaps most importantly, the candidate has an unmatched war chest, according to the Washington Post.
However, his moderate positions and ties to the aging Republican establishment have drawn criticism from tea party Republicans, and a Quinnipiac University poll in February showed that just 3 percent of tea party caucus-goers in Iowa support him.
While Bush held early leads in initial polls across the country, his burst of popularity seems dulled for now. According to a Huffington Post poll, Republican supporters are divided over a Bush candidacy, and Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker's lead in an April NH1 poll in New Hampshire has silenced any claims of an inevitable Bush nomination.
As the presidential race materializes from theory to on-the-ground campaigning, Bush's popularity hinges on distinguishing himself from his own last name.
George W. Bush, Jeb Bush's older brother and the 43rd president of the United States, has a legacy that makes U.S. voters wary. Post-9/11 engagements in Iraq and Afghanistan have made some Americans weary of war and skeptical about neoconservatives' hawkish foreign policy.
On April 15, George W. Bush spoke to a small audience in Chicago, where he said his brother's biggest challenge was being related to him.
"It's an easy line to say, ‘Haven't we had enough Bushes?'' the former president said, according to Politico. "That's why you won't see me out there, and he doesn't need to defend me, and he's totally different from me. The role of family is not to be a political adviser or policy adviser - there are plenty of those around - the role is to say, 'Hey man, I love you.'"
The Iraq War has plagued Jeb Bush. In an interview with Megyn Kelly on Fox News, he said he would have invaded Iraq in 2003. Later, he retracted that statement and said he misunderstood the question. The May 12 interview drew massive media attention and generated controversy regarding Jeb Bush's potential presidency before he was even an official candidate.
Jeb Bush isn't the only candidate to have a familiar last name.
Hillary Clinton, whose husband served as the 42nd President of the United States, is seeking the Democratic Party's nomination.
Jeb Bush weighed in on the buzz surrounding the potential Bush-Clinton presidential race in New Hampshire on April 17.
"I have three challenges," he said. "First and foremost, I've got to show my heart. Second, I have to show I have ideas that make it possible for American to rise up again. Third, I have to show I have the leadership skill not just to yap about it, but to do it. If I do that, the Bush dynasty thing, the Clinton-Bush deal - all that stuff subsides. That's my plan."
Bush is the son of the 41st president of the United States, George H.W. Bush. He is married to Columba Bush, a native of Mexico.
