Jeb Bush vows to 'fix' Washington as he launches 2016 presidential bid

Republican US presidential candidate and former Florida Governor Jeb Bush formally announces his campaign for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination during a kickoff rally in Miami, Florida, June 15, 2015. [Photo/Agencies]

MIAMI - Former Florida governor Jeb Bush vowed to fix a dysfunctional Washington as he began his US presidential bid on Monday with an attempt to move out of the shadow of the White House legacies left by his father and brother.

Bush, 62, is seeking to be seen as his own man and break out of a crowded field for the Republican presidential nomination to run in the November 2016 election.

In a speech in Miami to announce his candidacy, he presented himself as an anti-Washington figure with a can-do spirit.

"We will take Washington - the static capital of this dynamic country - out of the business of causing problems," he said. "I know we can fix this. Because I've done it."

Bush made his announcement at Miami-Dade College, a school whose multicultural student population was chosen to emphasize Bush's commitment to trying to expand the appeal of the white-dominated Republican Party.

"We don't need another president who merely holds the top spot among the pampered elites of Washington. We need a president willing to challenge and disrupt the whole culture in our nation's capital, he said.

He was joined by his mother Barbara Bush, 90, at the event. Former presidents George H.W. Bush, his father, and George W. Bush, his brother, did not attend.

Both men left office with low approval ratings. The legacy of Jeb's brother is particularly difficult given his 2003 invasion of Iraq and the financial crisis that erupted toward the end of his time in office.