By Peter Hamby, CNN National Political Reporter
updated 1:55 PM EDT, Tue September 23, 2014
Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush is considering a run for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Washington (CNN) -- Jeb Bush will be the star attraction at a Republican fundraiser in South Carolina next month, his first trip to an early presidential primary state as a possible contender for the Republican nomination in 2016.
Bush, the former governor of Florida and a darling of the Republican Party's donor class, will headline a closed-door October 23 fundraiser for South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, according to a copy of the invitation obtained by CNN.
The high-dollar event will be held at the Capital City Club in downtown Columbia, a short walk from the South Carolina State House, putting Bush in the room with some of the early primary state's biggest GOP movers and shakers.
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Couples who pledge $10,000 for Haley's re-election bid and the South Carolina Republican Party are offered the chance to participate in a "roundtable discussion" with Bush, while other GOP donors will be able to attend a private reception and photo op with the former governor. No public campaign events are scheduled.
Bush has political ties to the state, thanks to his brother George W. Bush's hard-fought primary victory there in 2000 over John McCain. Bush family loyalists and financial backers of that campaign have been angling to get Jeb Bush to visit South Carolina for months, but he has kept a relatively low profile for much of this midterm year despite pleas from admirers to step more aggressively into the political arena.
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First on CNN: Jeb Bush heading to 2016 primary state