Cori Bush

Cori Bush was born in St. Louis, Missouri. Bush studied at Harris-Stowe State University and Lutheran School of Nursing.[1] Her career experience includes working as a pastor, a registered nurse, in childcare, and as the co-director of The Truth Telling Project.[1][2]

Cori Bush did not complete [the profile publisher]'s 2026 Candidate Connection survey.

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Campaign websiteBush's campaign website stated the following:PRIORITIESThe system works for the wealthy, but doesn’t work for everybody else. As the Congresswoman representing St. Louis, I'll continue fighting to get you what you need to survive and thrive.Lower Costs and Expand OpportunitiesThe costs of housing, groceries, health care, utility bills, and other everyday expenses keep climbing — while good jobs vanish and wages stay the same. Families are being priced out of St. Louis, and too many people remain unhoused or struggle to put food on the table. We need a life that everyday people can afford. We need to make sure healthcare is affordable, healthy food is accessible in every neighborhood, and union jobs exist for workers of every skill set.I’ll continue expanding opportunities for St. Louis. Emerging technologies are transforming our economy faster than workers and communities can adapt. As automation and AI accelerate, many people are being pushed out of stable careers while corporations profit enormously. Unemployment is rising at an alarming pace, leaving people across nearly every sector feeling left behind. Black and brown workers, in particular, are exiting the workforce in disproportionate rates, often facing the toughest barriers to re-entry and advancement. This moment demands real action: technology should enhance human potential, not replace it, and innovation must be paired with responsibility, equitable opportunity, and respect for worker’s dignity.I’ll continue fighting for Medicare for All. I championed Medicare for All, co-sponsoring key legislation and advocating for treating universal health care as a basic human right. As a nurse for many years, I’ve seen patients ration medicine or skip treatment because they couldn’t afford it. I’ve seen people die because corporations prioritized profits over lives. I know what it’s like to be uninsured. No one should have to choose between their life and their bank account.I’ll continue advocating for utilities to be recognized as a human right. To make sure utilities remain accessible and affordable, I introduced the Utilities as a Human Right Resolution. This legislation positions water, electricity, heating, cooling, broadband, and transit as basic human rights that should be treated as such.I’ll continue fighting for more affordable housing and ensure everyone has guaranteed access to shelter. In Congress, I persistently brought up the issue of affordable housing. I introduced the Unhoused Bill of Rights, a plan to end the housing crisis by building more homes, providing universal vouchers, and expanding funding for shelters, social services, and permanent emergency rental assistance. I led a historic sleep-in on the U.S. Capitol steps, successfully extending the eviction moratorium for over 11 million people. I’ve kept the conversation going because we need to push for approaches and solutions rooted in human rights.Invest in Public Health and Build Safer CommunitiesSafety is a public health emergency. Every person deserves to feel safe in St. Louis. But today, that’s not our reality. Institutions that promote safety are under attack. Programs that help our residents are being defunded and dismantled. Our judicial system continues to punish rather than support. We need care, not criminalization. We deserve access to institutions that foster health and well-being for everyone. As your Congresswoman, I'll continue pushing to transform public safety, confront the climate crisis, address the gun violence epidemic, and protect survivors of violence.I’ll work on additional legislation and resources to combat gun violence. Stopping mass shootings and the crisis of gun violence needs a champion, and I'll continue to be at the forefront of this fight. I helped pass the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act — the first major gun violence bill in decades. A huge step forward for victims of domestic violence, this law closes the “Boyfriend Loophole,” which lets people convicted of domestic violence keep their guns if they aren’t married or living with their partners. But we have so much more work to do. In Congress, I’ll focus on curbing the flow of guns into our communities and address the root causes of violence. I’ll continue bringing home money to St. Louis to combat and respond to these tragedies, responding directly to the heartbreak in our neighborhoods’ fabric that bullets pierce.I’ll continue to fight Big Pharma to lower prescription drug costs. Senator Bernie Sanders and I pressured Eli Lilly to cut insulin prices, and we won. I introduced a bill to cap insulin at $20 a vial. I’ll continue fighting for this in Congress and I’ll go further by supporting Medicare drug negotiations, cracking down on price gouging, and breaking up monopolies. I’ll continue holding those responsible accountable for the nuclear contamination and pollution they caused. In my position, I worked to make sure my district was cared for, steering our priorities to promote clean energy and safe environments. I introduced policies that held federal agencies accountable and improved access to affordable utilities. I co-introduced the Environmental Justice Mapping and Data Collection Act, which was part of the most consequential piece of climate legislation ever passed: the Inflation Reduction Act. Locally, we acted on environmental issues that are very harmful to the community, delivering funding for waste management and contamination cleanup efforts at local spots like Coldwater Creek. I helped write the People’s Response Act. This legislation would help transform how we keep communities safe, creating a new public safety division inside the Department of Health and Human Services. We desperately need it built around inclusive community needs and public health. These policies and reforms would prevent harm, strengthen communities, and end the incentives behind for-profit incarceration. I’ll continue advancing legislation like this to transform what safety in our community looks like.For too long, safety has meant prisons, punishment, and surveillance. It’s a system that has been failing Black and Brown communities. The United States is the world leader in incarceration. Here in St. Louis, we feel the impact of this every day. In our district, police have led the nation in civilian killings for nearly a decade — including the killing of Michael Brown in 2014. I co-wrote the Helping Families Heal Act with Lezley McSpadden, the mother of Michael Brown, to set aside $100 million for community and school-based programs that will help people who have experienced, witnessed, or been in proximity to police violence to receive the counseling they need. I’ll continue to ensure that public safety is a top priority. In my capacity as a leader on Congressional Committees, I shared personal stories and became the voice for the voiceless. I was appointed to the powerful House Judiciary Committee, named Vice Chair of the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism, and Homeland Security, and served as a member on the House Judiciary Subcommittee on Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties. These experiences gave me a platform to offer Washington perspectives they hadn’t been exposed to before.I introduced the first resolution in Congress to set a baseline on reparations for descendants of enslaved people. The legacy of the Transatlantic Slave Trade lives on today. This resolution makes it clear that the federal government has a moral and legal duty to repair the harm from slavery, Jim Crow, the War on Drugs, mass incarceration, lynchings, and race massacres. It calls for a holistic approach to support descendants by providing solutions that address segregation, restitution, rehabilitation, and justice.Defend Democracy and Fight FascismOur nation faces relentless attacks from Trump’s administration. This isn’t politics as usual — his allies are putting everything they’ve got to tear us apart, destroy our spirits, and disrupt our ways of life. We need leaders who believe and know what's possible when we fight for everyone.I’ll fight to abolish ICE and protect our communities from rogue, federal agencies. Immigrants have a right to pursue the American dream. I'll defend our rights, ensuring that everyone feels safe in St. Louis. I'll hold agencies like these accountable, preventing actions that violate basic rights. I’ll demand that Congress provide oversight and limits on executive power. As federal agencies and politicians get more money and power, it is essential to fight back. On my third day in Congress, I took immediate action during the January 6 attack by holding members who helped incite the insurrection accountable. While barricaded in my office with my staff, I introduced a resolution to investigate and expel the Republican members of Congress who helped incite the mob. I’ll stand up to MAGA Republicans trying to tear down our democracy and take away our rights. I’ll keep pushing for legislation that protects our rights and votes. I won’t stop fighting for the Inclusive Democracy Act and the IDs for an Inclusive Democracy Act that would ensure every American has what they need to cast their ballot. No one should lose their voice or rights because of the legal system.I’ll continue advocating for bold proposals to reform the U.S. Supreme Court. I support changes to lifetime appointments, term limits, and accountability. We need a leader in Washington who knows how the system works and who will make legislative decisions that benefit the people.Protect Reproductive FreedomMissouri was the first state in the country to ban abortion after the Supreme Court's Dobbs decision overturned, Roe v. Wade, and the harm it continues to cause is devastating. Stripping people of their reproductive rights is not just an attack on bodily autonomy; it’s a deliberate way of stoking class warfare and advancing white supremacist ideologies. Vulnerable communities — especially Black women, people with low incomes, and those without access to health care — are most at risk.I won't stop until abortion care is legal everywhere. I'm committed to protecting and expanding abortion because access to comprehensive care includes reproductive care. Following the Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade, I introduced three pieces of legislation that would transform how we approach reproductive care, breaking down barriers and strengthening access so everyone can get the reproductive healthcare they need. I champion universal health care and will continue sponsoring landmark pieces of reproductive care legislation that protect and advance health care for all. In Congress, I introduced legislation that would guarantee equality of rights under the law for everyone, regardless of gender. This ERA Now Resolution — alongside the Equal Rights Amendment Caucus that I co-founded — works to affirm that the ERA is the 28th Amendment, advancing gender equality under the law. This caucus is now one of the five largest caucuses in Congress, and continues to advance reproductive rights. This is personal. I’ve talked before about how and why I chose to terminate my pregnancy after I was sexually assaulted in 1994. That decision was the hardest one I’ve ever made, but it was right for me and it altered the course of my life. I can’t describe the rage I feel now when I think that today’s Supreme Court would have tried to force me, and others like me, to carry our rapist’s child.Stand for Justice in PalestineEvery person deserves to live in safety and dignity. That is why I have stood — and will always stand — in solidarity with the Palestinian people. What is happening in Gaza is genocide. It is carried out by the Israeli government, and it is backed by U.S. weapons and U.S. dollars. This is not who St. Louis is, and it is not who I am. Our struggles are connected. When I was in Ferguson demanding justice for Michael Brown, it was Palestinian organizers who stood with us, who showed us how to withstand tear gas and face the violence of the state. That solidarity changed me then, and it drives me now.In Congress, I introduced and led the #CeasefireNOW resolution. The #CeasefireNOW resolution called for an immediate ceasefire and de-escalation in the conflict between Israel and armed groups in Palestine. I stayed committed and held fast to my beliefs, not bowing down to the powers that be and instead, raising my voice even louder for Palestinians. I spoke up when others turned away. I listened to our Palestinian-American neighbors here in St. Louis who were grieving as their families were killed by bombs funded with our tax dollars. I refused to stay quiet and rallied support, helping give others the confidence to speak up against Israel and foreign actors like the Israeli lobby AIPAC. So they came for me and my voice, pouring the $9 million that bought the election. But I resist and persist because everyone is entitled to freedom and justice and I will fight for it, whatever the cost. I’ll continue fighting to ensure the U.S. stops the flow of weapons to the Israeli government. I advocate for an end to our nation’s extensive military aid and arms transfers to Israel, aiming to stop the militarization of the conflict. We must withdraw our consent for genocide and end U.S. military funding to Israel. I’ll continue speaking out against the occupation in all its forms and demand an end to the seizure of Palestinian land in the West Bank. I’m committed to advocating for solutions and actions that will de-escalate and bring peace to the area. I stand firm in the truth that human rights do not stop at the borders of Palestine. Together, when we rise and speak with one voice for justice, we can move mountains. That is our role in this moment for Palestine. And it is the mantle I will take up once again in Washington, as St. Louis’ Congresswoman.— Cori Bush's campaign website (June 21, 2026)Note: This text is quoted verbatim from the original source. Any inconsistencies are attributable to the original source.

Cori Bush did not complete [the profile publisher]'s 2024 Candidate Connection survey.

Cori Bush did not complete [the profile publisher]'s 2022 Candidate Connection survey.

Cori Bush did not complete [the profile publisher]'s 2020 Candidate Connection survey.

The following issues were listed on Bush's campaign website. For a full list of campaign themes, click here.

Supporting a living wage for all Americans and Equal Pay for women and minorities

Expanding Medicaid and reducing the costs for prescription drugs

Fully funding public education and improving the quality of public schools

Fair Policing and Criminal Justice Reform

Eliminating the school to prison pipeline

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—Cori Bush's campaign website, http://coribush.com/issues/