In this Sept. 17, 2017 file photo, Cori Bush speaks on a bullhorn to protesters outside the St. Louis Police Department headquarters in St. Louis. Few members of Congress are more entrenched than William Lacy Clay of St. Louis, but Bush, a once-homeless woman spurred to activism in Ferguson believes she could be the next Democrat to pull off a big primary upset. Bush watched in June as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shocked the political establishment by beating 10-term Rep. Joseph Crowley in the New York Democratic primary. Bush is optimistic heading into Missouri's Aug. 7 primary.
Progressive activist Cori Bush ousts longtime Missouri Congressman Lacy Clay
It's the latest example of a progressive challenger topping a long-tenured Democratic incumbent.
By Benjamin Swasey/NPR
Jeff Roberson / AP Photo
In this Sept. 17, 2017 file photo, Cori Bush speaks on a bullhorn to protesters outside the St. Louis Police Department headquarters in St. Louis. Few members of Congress are more entrenched than William Lacy Clay of St. Louis, but Bush, a once-homeless woman spurred to activism in Ferguson believes she could be the next Democrat to pull off a big primary upset. Bush watched in June as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shocked the political establishment by beating 10-term Rep. Joseph Crowley in the New York Democratic primary. Bush is optimistic heading into Missouri's Aug. 7 primary.
(St. Louis) — Cori Bush, a nurse and Black Lives Matter activist, has ousted longtime Missouri U.S. Rep. William Lacy Clay in a Democratic primary, according to The Associated Press.
It’s the latest example of a progressive challenger topping a long-tenured Democratic incumbent.
Clay has represented the state’s 1st Congressional District, around St. Louis, since 2001. He succeeded his father in representing the district.
The younger Clay topped Bush by 20 percentage points in the 2018 primary, but Bush’s profile has risen since then, partly because of a documentary that also profiled New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Bush raised $562,309 for this year’s primary challenge — not too far behind the $740,525 Clay raised.
Bush was endorsed by Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders; Justice Democrats, a group closely aligned with Ocasio-Cortez; and Jamaal Bowman, who dispatched with longtime New York Democratic Rep. Eliot Engel earlier this summer.
Clay’s backers, including fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus, maintain he’s “no moderate Democrat,” citing, for instance, his support of “Medicare for All.”
The district is very liberal, so it’s likely Bush will win November’s general election. In 2018, Clay topped a Republican challenger by 63 percentage points.
