Missouri Democrat Cori Bush Launches Bid to Reclaim House Seat

Former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) announced she is running to represent Missouri’s First Congressional District again after losing the seat in the 2024 election.  

According to her Oct. 3 announcement video, Bush has continued to serve her community in the time she left office and would like to represent them again. 

“I ran for Congress because I know what it feels like to be a working-class St. Louisan. Too often unseen, unheard, left out,” Bush said in her promotional ad. “I promised to fight for St. Louis, and we delivered.”

Bush was elected to the House in 2021 to represent her home district in St. Louis and served two terms between 2021 and 2025 before losing to current Rep. Wesley Bell (D-Mo.).

In her ad, Bush described her time in office, saying, “Because I spoke truth, they pushed back. Attacked my name, my motives, spread lies and hate.”

“I’m running again because St. Louis deserves leadership that doesn’t wait for permission, doesn’t answer to wealthy donors, and doesn’t hide when things get tough,” she said, seeming to indicate Bell.

In the 2024 election cycle, Bell, a Democrat, took the primary nomination from Bush and eventually won easily over Republican Andrew Jones.

Bell garnered support from pro-Israel groups when he primaried Bush, a public member of “The Squad,” a progressive group of House Democrats

Such groups included the American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s super political action committee and the United Democracy Project.

In a statement days after the deadly Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel by Hamas, Bush said she was “heartbroken by the ongoing violence in Palestine and Israel” and that she mourned the Palestinian and Israeli lives lost that day.

She attributed the injury and loss of life to “attacks by Hamas militants on Israeli border towns, and Israeli military bombardment of Gaza.” She also called for an end to “U.S. government support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid.”

The decision to run for office again comes after Bush’s husband, Cortney Merritts, was indicted in March on federal charges alleging he fraudulently obtained more than $20,000 in COVID-19 relief funds. That case is still ongoing.

In January 2024, prior to her departure from office, the Department of Justice began investigating whether Bush misused campaign funds for personal security.

The then-second-term lawmaker denied wrongdoing and said she was cooperating with the investigation. No charges have been filed against Bush.

Bell responded to Bush’s announcement of candidacy in a thread on X, noting the Justice Department investigation and saying that voters already decided how they felt about her leadership.

“When it came time to deliver, Cori Bush’s focus wasn’t on our community, but on her own national agenda. That’s why our district was left behind,” Bell wrote.