IN PROGRESS
CONGRESS-WOMAN CORI BUSH
can’t move more than 10 feet without someone requesting a selfie with her. It’s a warm evening in September, and a crescent moon is appearing in the pink sky. Bush, a progressive Demo crat who represents Missouri’s 1st District, has stopped by The Taste of Black St. Louis at City Foundry STL. It’s packed. A DJ is spinning Beyonce’s “Crazy in Love.” A man with shoulder length brown hair passes her before realizing who she is and turning around. His T shirt says “DAMN.” Hers reads “Your Congresswoman loves you.” “Hey, Cori! Can I get a photo?” he calls. She stops to talk and snap a pic.
Bush made national headlines in August 2020 after defeating incumbent Rep. Lacy Clay in the Democratic primary. She sailed through the general election, becoming the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress. Clay had held that office for 20 years. Before him, his father, Rep. William Lacy Clay Sr., held the office for more than 30. Bush’s victory was more than an upset-it signaled the sun setting on the Clay family dynasty.
Bush is a woman with many identities: a nurse, a pastor, a protester. A single mother. A woman who expert-enced homelessness. A survivor of sexual assault. Often described by those close to her as a natural-born storyteller, Bush has revealed these facets of her life, as distinct and sometimes dark as phases of the moon, to her constituents throughout her campaign and into her first year in office.
As a lawmaker, Bush now has a powerful new tool in her kit: policy. Upon winning the primary, she said, “Tonight, Missouri’s 1st District has decided that an incremental approach isn’t going to work any longer.” Yet passing legislation is often a delicate dance. At times, Bush has drawn criticism for her unwillingness to compromise and what some see as grandstanding. “Politics is the art of compromise, says Ken Warren, a political science professor at Saint Louis University. “So far, she’s shown that she has no clue how to play the game. Unless she thinks playing the game is acting in a totally non-compromising way.” Others appreciate her candor and say she’s standing up for her constituents, particularly those who live in underserved communities.
In Bush’s first year as a legislator, political observers and constituents are watching to see how she navigates the transition from protester to policymaker during a divisive time.
Errol Bush never suspected his daughter Cori would go into politics-and he was reluctant at first when she told him she wanted to run for office, in 2016. “Some people just don’t like you,” he says, “and they’ll show it in their behaviors, in their deeds, and in letter writing.”
Having served as mayor of Northwoods and as a longtime alderman, Errol knows politics firsthand. “Mine wasn’t on that bigger scale, but it was still
