Cori Bush’s Primary Loss Further Hurts Black Women’s Chances for Representation in Congress

This story was originally reported by Mel Leonor Barclay of The 19th.

Former Democratic Rep. Cori Bush will not be returning to Congress after failing to retake her old seat from Rep. Wesley Bell in the heated primary for Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, according to projections by Decision Desk HQ. 

Bush was first elected to Congress in 2020, becoming the first Black woman to represent the state in the U.S. House. She unseated a 10-term congressman by promising to bring a renewed fighting spirit to a range of issues, from affordable housing to criminal justice. By 2024, Bush, by then a progressive firebrand, couldn’t overcome a primary challenge from Bell, the former St. Louis County prosecutor who used her vote against an infrastructure package backed by the Biden administration to cast her as an ineffective legislator unwilling to compromise.

Bush defended her vote, saying that she was leveraging her political power to fight for elements of the bill that some in her party had walked away from at the time, like childcare. Bush told The 19th in an interview last month that her regret from her time in office is that she didn’t push even harder — and that she believes the country has changed since her defeat two years ago. 

Bush’s race was a test of Democratic politics in a historic primary cycle that has seen progressive candidates defy expectations by defeating long-serving incumbents or candidates backed by party leaders, fueled by voters bent on defying the status quo. In this case, though, the voters chose to support the candidate with more establishment backing.

“The activist brings that constant push, that moxie, that persistence,” Bush said last month. “The legislator, they have the power of the pen and the purse. They have the letterhead. So when you put the two of them together, then you can actually use that push to bring about the change. You don’t miss people the same way that you miss people when you’re not connected to the ground, when you’re not an organizer.”

Bell, who campaigned alongside former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi in the final weeks of the race, attacked Bush by saying she’s “not a serious candidate,” and arguing that he’s better equipped to work with lawmakers in Washington on behalf of Missourians.

Bell and Bush both trace their political origins to the 2014 protests in Ferguson after the killing of Michael Brown.

Tuesday’s rematch is a test of the national climate around America’s support for Israel and the rhetoric that Democratic voters want to see in their candidates on the issue nearly three years after the war began. Like in 2024, Bell’s campaign has the backing of the powerful pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, though to a lesser extent this cycle.  

The official winner of Tuesday’s contest will likely be the new representative of Missouri’s deeply blue 1st Congressional District. 

While Black women have made significant strides toward better representation in Congress over multiple cycles, they remain underrepresented. This midterm cycle, they are not expected to significantly grow their ranks: Only 112 Black women are running, down from the record of 134 set in 2022, according to the Center for American Women in Politics. Bush’s defeat puts Black women further from equitable representation.  Bush’s victory helps hold the line for Black women’s representation.

Errin Haines contributed to this report.

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