George W. Bush on the 2016 Presidential Race: ‘Jeb is Going to Win the Latino Vote’

George W. Bush is confident that his younger brother, Jeb Bush, will win the Latino voting bloc.

In a private event for Bush's top fundraisers of his campaign, the former U.S. president said that his brother's Mexican-American wife, Columba Bush, and his fluency in Spanish will attract Hispanic voters.

"Jeb is going to win the Latino vote," the former president said, as quoted by The Wall Street Journal. "It's going to be essential that we not ignore the Latino vote or irritate the Latino vote."

The older Bush and his father, George H.W. Bush, have been present at about half a dozen fundraisers event for Jeb Bush this year, the news outlet noted.

The two brothers' two-day retreat highlighted the idea that experience matters. In their on-stage conversation, the former president mentioned how he handled the "unexpected" after the Sept. 11 attacks, and how his younger brother possesses the skill to step up when faced with the unforeseen, The Wall Street Journal noted.

"It's the unexpected that's going to try Jeb when he's the next president," George W. Bush said, as quoted by the news outlet. "And I'm absolutely confident given his background and his steadiness that he'll be able to deal with the unexpected in a way that we're proud of."

The gathering also focused on how Jeb Bush's staff plans to take on Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, whom the campaign views as Bush's top competitor for the Republican nomination. Bush was one of the GOP's frontrunners, but is overtaken by candidates who have no political experience, such as Donald Trump and Ben Carson, Fox News Latino wrote.

"We are pitching our path to victory. We addressed all the key opponents, including Marco, and will contrast Jeb's leadership skills with theirs," Jack Oliver, Bush's campaign finance co-chairman, Fox News Latino reported from The Associated Press. "Our supporters want someone who is willing to fight for victory and that's what the team presented."

The GOP has been expressing their disappointment over Barack Obama's leadership. A tough strategy presentation at the gathering emphasized the difference between Bush and Rubio. Documents provided by the Bush campaign showcased a slide that reads "Marco is a GOP Obama," describing Rubio and America's current commander-in-chief as having "strikingly similar profiles," including being lawyers, university lecturers, and former state legislators with "few legislative accomplishments," according to Fox News Latino.

Last week, the Bush campaign announced that they are making sharp spending cuts, primarily to employee wages, in order to strengthen the team's focus on the first two states to vote, Iowa and New Hampshire, the news outlet added.