Cori Bush facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Cori Bush
|
|
---|---|
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri's 1st district |
|
Assumed office January 3, 2021 |
|
Preceded by | Lacy Clay |
Personal details | |
Born | St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. |
July 21, 1976
Political party | Democratic |
Spouse |
Cortney Merritts
(m. 2023) |
Children | 2 |
Education | Harris-Stowe State University Lutheran School of Nursing |
Cori Anika Bush (born July 21, 1976) is an American politician, nurse, pastor, and Black Lives Matter activist serving as the U.S. representative for Missouri's 1st congressional district, since 2021. The district includes all of the city of St. Louis and most of northern St. Louis County.
A member of the Democratic Party, on August 4, 2020, Bush defeated 10-term incumbent Lacy Clay in a 2020 U.S. House of Representatives primary election primarily viewed as an upset, advancing to the November general election in a solidly Democratic congressional district. Bush is the first African-American woman to serve in the U.S. House of Representatives from Missouri. She previously ran in the Democratic primary for the district in 2018 and the 2016 U.S. Senate election in Missouri. She was featured in the 2019 Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, which covered her first primary challenge to Clay. Bush is a member of the Squad in the House of Representatives.
On August 6, 2024, Bush lost the Democratic nomination for her seat to primary challenger Wesley Bell.
Contents
Early life and education
Bush was born on July 21, 1976, in St. Louis and graduated from Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School in 1994. Her father, Errol Bush, is an alderman in Northwoods, Missouri, and previously served as mayor. Bush studied at Harris–Stowe State University for one year (1995–96) and worked at a preschool until 2001. She earned a Diploma in Nursing from the Lutheran School of Nursing in 2008.
Early career
In 2011, Bush established the Kingdom Embassy International Church in St. Louis, Missouri, and served as its pastor until 2014. She became a political activist during the 2014 Ferguson unrest, during which she worked as a triage nurse and organizer, where she said that a police officer hit her. Bush is a Nonviolence 365 Ambassador with the King Center for Nonviolent Social Change.
Bush was a candidate for the 2016 United States Senate election in Missouri. In the Democratic primary, she placed a distant second to Secretary of State Jason Kander. Kander narrowly lost the election to incumbent Republican Roy Blunt.
U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
2018
In 2018, Bush launched a primary campaign against incumbent Democratic representative Lacy Clay in Missouri's 1st congressional district. Described as an "insurgent" candidate, Bush was endorsed by Brand New Congress and Justice Democrats. Her campaign was featured in the Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, alongside those of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, and Paula Jean Swearengin. Clay defeated Bush 56.7% to 36.9%.
2020
In 2020, Bush ran against Clay again. She was endorsed by progressive organizations, including Justice Democrats, Sunrise Movement, and Brand New Congress, and she received personal endorsements from Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders, NY-16 Democratic nominee Jamaal Bowman, former Ohio state Senator Nina Turner, activist Angela Davis, and West Virginia Democratic Senate nominee Paula Jean Swearengin.
Bush narrowly defeated Clay in the primary election in what was widely seen as an upset. Bush received 48.5% of the vote, winning St. Louis City and narrowly losing suburban St. Louis County. Her primary victory was considered tantamount to election in the heavily Democratic district. Her primary win ended the Clay family's 52-year hold on the district. Clay's father, Bill, won the seat in 1968 and was succeeded by his son in 2000. The district and its predecessors have been in Democratic hands for all but 17 months since 1909 and without interruption since 1911. No Republican has received more than 40% in the district since the late 1940s. With a Cook Partisan Voting Index of D+29, it is easily the most Democratic district in Missouri and tied for the 23rd-most Democratic district in the country.
As expected, Bush won the general election, defeating Republican Anthony Rogers with 78 percent of the vote.
2024
In 2024, Bush ran for reelection to the seat. On August 6, 2024, Bush lost the Democratic primary to Wesley Bell, the prosecuting attorney of St. Louis County. Her defeat came after her anti-Israel positions following the October 7 terrorist attack on Israel and amid heavy support for Bell from pro-Israel advocates. Bush was the second member of the left-wing Squad ousted in a Democratic primary in 2024 following George Latimer's defeat of Jamaal Bowman.
Tenure
Soon after being sworn in, Bush joined "The Squad", a left-wing grouping in the Democratic caucus. She posted a photo on Twitter of herself, the four original Squad members, and another new member, Bowman, with the caption "Squad up."
On January 6, 2021, hours after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to overturn Donald Trump's loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, Bush introduced a resolution to remove every Republican who supported attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election from the House of Representatives. In her support for Trump's second impeachment, Bush called the attack on the Capitol a "white supremacist insurrection" incited by the "white supremacist-in-chief".
In August 2021, Bush took a leading role in fighting to extend the CARES Act's eviction moratorium, sleeping on the steps of the U.S. Capitol to make her point; the CDC extended the moratorium on August 3.
On November 5, 2021, Bush was one of six House Democrats to break with their party and vote with a majority of Republicans against the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act because it was not accompanied by the Build Back Better Act.
In 2022, Bush secured $750,000 in Community Project Funding for expansions to the Urban League facilities in North St. Louis, as well as funding for other area service organizations.
As of July 2022, Bush had voted in line with Joe Biden's stated position 93.0% of the time.
Bush was among the 46 Democrats who voted against final passage of the Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2023 in the House.
Following Bush's introduction of a ceasefire resolution in 2023, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell announced his candidacy against her for the following election. Reports indicated that American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has marked her and other members of "the Squad" for "high dollar challengers." Co-founder for LinkedIn, billionaire Reid Hoffman, has also expressed intentions to fund opponents of both Bush and Tlaib.
On January 30, 2024, Bush confirmed reports that she was under investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice for alleged misuse of federal security money. The Office of Congressional Ethics previously investigated the same allegations and voted unanimously to dismiss the case after finding no evidence of wrongdoing.
For the 2024 fiscal year, Bush secured over $13 million in federal earmarks to fund projects in the St. Louis area, including emergency food and shelter services and redevelopment for a housing complex. Total federal funds to Missouri were reduced from previous cycles as neither Missouri senator requested funds.
Foreign and defense policy
In September 2021, Bush was one of eight Democrats to vote against the funding of Israel's Iron Dome missile defense system.
She condemned Hamas's October 2023 attack on Israel. On October 16, 2023, Bush introduced a resolution calling for a ceasefire in the Israel–Hamas war. She condemned Israel's bombing of the Gaza Strip that killed thousands of Palestinian civilians in Gaza.
Public transportation
Bush and congressional allies, including Senator Roy Blunt, successfully advocated for the Federal Transit Administration Climate Relief Fund. According to Bush, "that fund was going to have zero dollars in it" to repair damage to public transit systems from severe storms and flooding in 2017, 2020, 2021, and 2022. Bush threatened to withhold her vote for the budget if FTA funds were not included.
Committee assignments
For the 118th Congress:
- Committee on Oversight and Accountability
- Subcommittee on Economic Growth, Energy Policy, and Regulatory Affairs (Ranking Member)
- Subcommittee on National Security, the Border, and Foreign Affairs
- Committee on the Judiciary
- Subcommittee on Crime and Federal Government Surveillance
- Subcommittee on the Constitution and Limited Government
Caucus memberships
- Congressional Black Caucus
- Congressional Caucus for the Equal Rights Amendment (Bush co-chairs it with Ayanna Pressley)
- Congressional LGBTQ+ Equality Caucus
- Congressional Progressive Caucus'
- Medicare for All Caucus
Political positions
Bush is a progressive Democrat, supporting policies such as defunding the police; criminal justice and police reform; Medicare for All; a $15 minimum wage; tuition-free state college and trade school; and canceling student debt. She was endorsed by, and is a member of, the Democratic Socialists of America. Bush supports the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement and has called Israel an "apartheid state". She stands "unwaveringly with Black Lives Matter's demands".
Bush advocated defunding the United States Armed Forces during her campaign. After receiving criticism from California Representative Kevin McCarthy and a St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial, Bush clarified that she supported reallocating defense funding to healthcare and low-income communities.
Personal life
Bush lives in St. Louis, Missouri. She has two children and has been married twice. For 14 months, she and her then-husband lived in their car with the young children after being evicted because of loss of income after illness during her second pregnancy made it necessary for her to quit her preschool job. In February 2023, Bush married Cortney Merritts, a security specialist and U.S. Army veteran.
Electoral history
2016
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Jason Kander | 223,492 | 69.9 | |
Democratic | Cori Bush | 42,453 | 13.3 | |
Democratic | Chief Wana Dubie | 30,432 | 9.5 | |
Democratic | Robert Mack | 23,509 | 7.4 | |
Total votes | 319,886 | 100.00% |
2018
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Lacy Clay (incumbent) | 81,426 | 56.7 | |
Democratic | Cori Bush | 53,056 | 36.9 | |
Democratic | Joshua Shipp | 4,959 | 3.5 | |
Democratic | DeMarco K. Davidson | 4,229 | 2.9 | |
Total votes | 143,670 | 100.0 |
2020
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Cori Bush | 73,274 | 48.5 | |
Democratic | Lacy Clay (incumbent) | 68,887 | 45.6 | |
Democratic | Katherine Bruckner | 8,850 | 5.9 | |
Total votes | 151,011 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Cori Bush | 249,087 | 78.7 | |
Republican | Anthony Rogers | 59,940 | 18.9 | |
Libertarian | Alex Furman | 6,766 | 2.1 | |
Write-in | 378 | 0.1 | ||
Total votes | 316,171 | 100.0 |
2022
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Cori Bush (incumbent) | 65,326 | 69.5 | |
Democratic | Steve Roberts | 25,015 | 26.6 | |
Democratic | Michael Daniels | 1,683 | 1.8 | |
Democratic | Ron Harshaw | 1,065 | 1.1 | |
Democratic | Earl Childress | 929 | 1.0 | |
Total votes | 94,018 | 100.0 |
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Cori Bush (incumbent) | 160,999 | 72.86 | |
Republican | Andrew Jones | 53,767 | 24.33 | |
Libertarian | George A. Zsidisin | 6,192 | 2.80 | |
Total votes | 220,958 | 100.0 |
2024
Party | Candidate | Votes | % | |
---|---|---|---|---|
Democratic | Wesley Bell | 63,340 | 51.2 | |
Democratic | Cori Bush (incumbent) | 56,492 | 45.6 | |
Democratic | Maria Chappelle-Nadal | 3,257 | 2.6 | |
Democratic | Ron Harshaw | 730 | 0.6 | |
Total votes | 123,819 | 100.0 |
See also
In Spanish: Cori Bush para niños
- Black women in American politics
- List of African-American United States representatives
- Women in the United States House of Representatives