Maine GOP governor candidate Jonathan Bush marketed births to migrants

Jonathan Bush, a Republican gubernatorial candidate in Maine who is vying for President Trump’s endorsement this week ahead of the June 9 primary, previously operated a network of maternity clinics in the San Diego County area that often served immigrant women, according to a review by Fox News Digital.

Referring to Athena Women’s Health, then commonly known as Athena Health, Bush said, “Here we were, the largest obstetrics practice in San Diego County, and our business was mostly Medi-Cal, the government welfare program, and immigrant workers. We needed their jobs and even called them out with Spanish-language ads on local television.” Where does it hurt? – a 2014 book he co-authored.

At its peak, Athena Health helped deliver thousands of children, according to Bush, who opened a network of birthing clinics with business partner Todd Park, who years later would serve as chief technology officer during the Obama administration.

“We actually had a birthing center. And at our peak we were making 3,000 babies a year,” Bush told the audience. On the Venture Fizz Podcast In 2022. “If you multiply our monthly run rate, it’s maybe 3,300. So it’s not really big, prosperous, prosperous. A lot of very low-income families, excluding Medicaid, have had to pay cash, immigrant workers, all kinds of people.”

FED INSPECTION, EMERGENCY MEDICAID U.DERCUT DEMS ON ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HEALTH COVERAGE

Bush’s resurfaced comments about his job raise questions about whether he knowingly helped non-American women secure U.S. citizenship through birthright for their children while campaigning for the Republican nominee for governor in Maine.

When Fox New Digital asked about Athena’s work with immigrants, the Bush campaign pushed back, arguing that Athenahealth had never offered maternity services and that, as a health software company, it would be illegal to provide them.

“Bobby Charles, a D.C. lobbyist of 25 years, continues to lie about my record of creating hundreds of jobs in Maine to distract from his failed campaign,” Bush said in a statement to Fox News Digital. “Ironically, Lobby Charles, who lied about his military service, lobbied for the liberal pro-illegal immigrant, pro-gun control, pro-birthright California Democratic Attorney General. Without the Lobbyist Lies, here’s the truth: athenahealth/Athena Women’s Health provided software, billing and administrative services to 116,000 American physicians.”

“They never provided any medical services. And as I’ve consistently said, I agree with President Trump; illegal immigrants should be deported,” added Bush, who is a cousin of former President George W. Bush.

While Bush’s statement that Athenahealth did not provide medical services through obstetrics clinics was true, Athena Health, the failed venture with which Bush had initially been involved for less than 2 years, did operate obstetrics clinics.

“Our new company started with twelve clinics scattered throughout San Diego County,” Bush said, referring to Athena Health in his 2014 book. “Six doctors and thirty-five midwives were delivering two thousand births a year. All of the midwives were Latino. They were warm, friendly, and supportive, just what our business plan called for.”

A 2005 profile article also reveals the early days of maternity clinics; here they “listened to the urgent and beautiful sounds of a baby’s first breath from the nearby delivery room.”

“Jonathan Bush and Todd Park sat in their office at a San Diego birthing clinic in 1997, listening to the urgent, beautiful sounds of a baby’s first breath coming from the nearby delivery room. The screams were music to the tune of two fresh-faced former Booz Allen Hamilton health consultants, 28 and 24, respectively, who decided they had learned enough to run a clinic better and more efficiently than doctors,” the article reads.

Equal Opportunity Research Foundation also explains Bush’s work with Athena as “a birthing clinic in San Diego.”

GOP GOVERNORAL HOPEFUL WAS BAKED BY CRITICS FOR ‘LIYING’ ON STAGE ABOUT ILLEGAL IMMIGRANT HIRING

Jonathan J. Bush Jr., president and CEO of Athenahealth Inc., said in Watertown, Mass., before announcing its expansion into Maine on November 28, 2007. He expresses his excitement while touring the company. (Gordon Chibroski/Portland Press Herald via Getty Images)

It’s unclear how many of his customers are immigrant women. However, based on their own comments, the volume appears to be a significant volume of business.

“‘All immigrants, all the time.’ This was a funny line to us, but it wasn’t very funny. This was not the successful business we had imagined. “We were losing money,” Bush said in his book.

“A lot of low-income families, like migrant workers and people of all kinds, had to pay cash,” he continued.

Bush is a health technology entrepreneur known for co-founding Athenahealth, a cloud-based software and services company marketed to medical practices.

“I’ve made my career disrupting the status quo, creating jobs and helping people achieve their American dreams,” Bush, who announced his candidacy for governor in October, said in an announcement video.

During his race, he positioned himself as Maine’s primary candidate and promised to make Maine more of a destination state for businesses and investors by lowering taxes, overseeing local government and increasing energy supply by tapping into natural gas reserves.

Although he has distanced himself from the MAGA wing of the Republican Party on some issues, he recently told Fox News: “Everybody wants endorsements, a huge endorsement like Donald Trump would be phenomenal. He’s held back. It’s a purple state… We’d like one.”

Although he has drawn heavily on his business experience to pitch to voters, GOP chief rival Bobby Charles believes his maternity clinic and pitch to immigrant women run counter to the pro-America, pro-Maine message he currently offers.

“It’s not surprising to hear that Bush may also have been involved in facilitating illegal immigration. The difference couldn’t be clearer. I’m a pro-Trump conservative who will remove illegals from the state and ban sharia law. Jonathan ‘Never Trump’ Bush can’t be trusted to do what most Mainers want,” Charles said in a statement to Fox News Digital. he said.

According to the National Immigration Law Center, undocumented immigrants are ineligible to enroll in insurance programs, prompting them to seek services where they may find lower costs and payment flexibility.

According to Bush, the stability of the business weakened as Athena continued to take on more and more of these clients.

INCREASE TO WEALTH FROM MINNESOTA MEDICAID OPERATOR’S BANKRUPTCY RESULTS IN FRAUD PROBLEM

Demonstrators hold a banner during a citizenship rally in front of the Supreme Court in Washington on May 15, 2025. (Jose Luis Magana/AP Photo)

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“Our popularity worked against us… Soon most of our remaining clients were impoverished. They were either on Medicaid or had no insurance, and they paid in cash or promised to pay in cash,” Bush wrote in his book.

“I probably don’t give you anything to tell you that it floundered and then failed,” he continued.

Maine will hold its primary election for governor on Tuesday, June 9.