U.S. Rep. Pete Olson on Monday endorsed Pierce Bush in the race to fill his congressional seat, framing the Republican nonprofit executive as the candidate best equipped to keep the district from flipping to Democratic control.

“After the filing ended and things were getting really to where the rubber meets the road, it was pretty clear that one person came across as the person who can win this district in November. That man is Pierce Bush,” said Olson, a Republican from Sugar Land who is not seeking re-election after six terms in Congress.

The endorsement comes less than a month before early voting begins in the 15-candidate Republican primary for Olson’s 22nd Congressional District. Four Democrats also are running for the seat in that party’s primary.

Making his first run for office, Bush also has drawn endorsements from former state representative John Zerwas, a Republican who represented a district that overlaps with Olson’s, and former Republican congressman Ted Poe.

Speaking to reporters at Bush’s campaign headquarters in Sugar Land, Olson and Bush both set high stakes for 2020, with Olson warning that if “Texas 22 goes blue, America goes blue.” Bush said the prospect of the seat flipping is a “critical issue.”

“There is a wave of charismatic socialist Democrats who will tell you that big government is the idea that can fix all of our country's ills,” Bush said. “We know that to not be true.”

Asked if he believes Bush’s Republican opponents would allow the district to fall into Democratic hands, Olson said the primary includes other “good guys, good gals” who likely would retain the seat, but nominating Bush “dang near guarantees” it will stay under Republican control.

The district covers most of Fort Bend and parts of Brazoria and Harris counties. It was drawn to easily elect a Republican and historically has been bright red, though Olson beat Democrat Sri Kulkarni by just five percentage points in 2018. The nonpartisan Cook Political Report considers the race a toss-up.

Bush, the former CEO of Big Brothers Big Sisters Lone Star, previously was linked to a potential run for the 7th Congressional District, the seat once represented by his grandfather, George H.W. Bush. He previously lived outside the 22nd Congressional District but since has moved to Sugar Land, he told reporters Monday.

Still, some primary opponents have criticized Bush for running outside his home district, including former border patrol agent and Brazoria County Judge Greg Hill, who on Monday said Olson’s endorsement “affirms that the swamp is alive and well in Washington, D.C.”

“The D.C. establishment is trying to manipulate this race by throwing their full support behind a celebrity candidate who doesn’t live in our district and who even marched in the streets of New York City in protest of President Trump,” Hill said, referring to Bush’s participation in a January 2017 march against Trump’s executive order that blocked citizens of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the United States.

In response, Olson said Hill “was singing a different tune when he asked for my endorsement and wanted to hire my staff during this process.”

When previously asked about the march, Bush said he believes the U.S. “should be a welcoming nation that can also be focused on our security by vetting people who want to come here.” Ultimately, Bush said, “I support the president's responsibility to protect our country.”

Meanwhile, Olson said he is not concerned about the residency issue and said voters have not raised it with him when asking about Bush. He also noted the Constitution does not require candidates to live in the districts they are seeking.

“I moved back here in 2007 having been gone for almost 20 years because of my time in the Navy. People at that time didn't say, you can't run because you just showed up,” Olson said. “They voted for me because of my values. Pierce has those exact same values.”

Bush emphasized his nonprofit work in the district and said he would always live there if elected.

“Aside from the people that are supporting some of my opponents, when you go talk to real voters, people care far more about how my hands and my heart have impacted the lives of thousands of kids in this community than where I've rested my head at night,” he said.

jasper.scherer@chron.com