Cori Anika Bush (born July 21, 1976)[1] is an American politician, nurse, pastor, and Black Lives Matter activist who served as the U.S. representative for Missouri's 1st congressional district from 2021 to 2025.

Bush was featured in the 2019 Netflix related documentary film Knock Down the House, which covered her first primary challenge to Clay.

[4] In August 2024, Bush lost the Democratic nomination for her seat to a primary challenger in a race described as having "received outsize attention", with politician Wesley Bell winning (45.6% vs.

[6][7] Bush was born on July 21, 1976, in St. Louis and graduated from Cardinal Ritter College Prep High School in 1994.

[18][19] In 2018, Bush launched a primary campaign against incumbent Democratic representative Lacy Clay in Missouri's 1st congressional district.

[20] Her campaign was featured in the Netflix documentary Knock Down the House, alongside those of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amy Vilela, and Paula Jean Swearengin.

She was challenged by Steve Roberts, state senator, who received support from previous representative Lacy Clay.

"[44] On January 6, 2021, hours after rioters stormed the U.S. Capitol in a failed bid to overturn Donald Trump's loss to Joe Biden in the 2020 election, Bush introduced a resolution to remove every Republican who supported attempts to overturn the 2020 United States presidential election from the House of Representatives.

[56] Following Bush's introduction of a ceasefire resolution in 2023, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell announced his candidacy against her for the following election.

Reports indicated that American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) has marked her and other members of "the Squad" for "high dollar challengers.

[59][60] Bush also claimed the Office of Congressional Ethics had previously investigated the same allegations and voted unanimously to dismiss the case after finding no evidence of wrongdoing.

[60] For the 2024 fiscal year, Bush secured over $13 million in federal earmarks to fund projects in the St. Louis area, including emergency food and shelter services and redevelopment for a housing complex.

[66] Bush and congressional allies, including Senator Roy Blunt, successfully advocated for the Federal Transit Administration Climate Relief Fund.

After receiving criticism from California Representative Kevin McCarthy and a St. Louis Post-Dispatch editorial, Bush clarified that she supported reallocating defense funding to healthcare and low-income communities.

Greene accused Bush of calling for violence against a couple involved in the controversial July 2020 march through a gated St. Louis street.

[79][80] In a 2022 interview with the PBS news program The Firing Line with Margaret Hoover, Bush recounted a story from her biography about healing a homeless woman with tumors.

[84] In 2001, Bush, her husband at the time, and young children lived in their Ford Explorer for about three months after being evicted from a rental home.

[86] In May 2021, Bush testified to the House Oversight and Reform Committee that during her first pregnancy, she informed her doctor of severe pain but was ignored, and as a result, went into pre-term labor.

[87] In a subsequent tweet, she wrote, "Every day, Black birthing people and our babies die because our doctors don't believe our pain.