Analysis: Is this the end of the Bush dynasty?

“His ubiquitous name recognition is emerging as a liability in the Republican [P]arty. … 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.”

It’s, um, a lot.

And yet, despite all of that, Paxton is widely considered the favorite to win the Republican nomination on Tuesday — and, in so doing, emerge as a clear favorite to hold the office for another four years in still-GOP-friendly Texas.

Which is, at one level, remarkable. A deeply damaged incumbent running against a rising star with a famous last name in Texas politics would seem to suggest that Bush, not Paxton would be the favorite going into the runoff.

That the roles are reversed speaks to how much the Republican Party has changed in recent years.

That endorsement came despite an aggressive effort by George P. Bush to secure Trump’s backing or, at the very least, to keep the former President neutral in the race.

That George P. Bush was willing to throw his own family under the bus is telling. That it doesn’t appear to have worked — even against an incumbent as damaged as Paxton — is a stunning testament to how power within the GOP has been transferred.

The Bushes were the first family of national Republican politics for decades. Now, their last name is a political drag — and the once-promising next generation of their family looks headed to defeat today.