Cori Bush Defeats William Lacy Clay in a Show of Progressive Might

[Celerity]

The upset of the veteran congressman from St. Louis sent tremors though the Democratic establishment in Missouri and Washington, D.C.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/05/us/politics/cori-bush-missouri-william-lacy-clay.html



If elected to the House in November, Cori Bush would be the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress.

ST. LOUIS — Cori Bush, a progressive activist and a leader of the swelling protest movement for racial justice, toppled Representative William Lacy Clay Jr. of Missouri in a Democratic primary on Tuesday, notching the latest in a stunning string of upsets against the party establishment. Ms. Bush, 44, had captured nearly 49 percent of the vote by late Tuesday evening compared with 45.5 percent for Mr. Clay, according to The Associated Press. She had tried and failed to unseat Mr. Clay in 2018, but this year rode a surge in support for more liberal, confrontational politics within the Democratic Party amid the coronavirus pandemic and the national outcry over festering racial inequities.

Ms. Bush’s victory, which came on the same night that Missouri voters decided to expand Medicaid eligibility, was a significant milestone for insurgent progressive candidates and the groups, like Justice Democrats, that have backed them across the country. It showed that the same brand of politics that has helped young, liberal candidates of color unseat veteran party stalwarts in places like Massachusetts and New York could also resonate deep in the heartland against a Black incumbent whose family has been synonymous with his district for decades. Ms. Bush now joins figures like Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, who defeated the 20-year veteran Representative Joseph Crowley in 2018, and Jamaal Bowman, who last month won a primary against Representative Eliot L. Engel, a powerful committee chairman in his 16th term representing a district straddling the Bronx and Westchester.

A single mother, former nurse and pastor, Ms. Bush would be the first Black woman to represent the state of Missouri in Congress. The plurality of the district, which encompasses St. Louis and some of its innermost liberal suburbs, is African-American and considered safely Democratic. “Tonight, Missouri’s 1st District has decided that an incremental approach isn’t going to work any longer,” Ms. Bush told supporters at a jubilant news conference after the race was called. “We decided that we the people have the answers, and we will lead from the front lines.”

Mr. Clay, the scion of a storied Black Missouri political dynasty in his 10th term in Congress, had tried to make the campaign a referendum on not only Ms. Bush’s suitability for elected office but also the progressive movement behind her. He carried out a series of dark, personal attacks in the campaign’s final days to try to halt Ms. Bush’s momentum and described her as a “prop” of out-of-town interests seeking to divide the Democratic Party along racial lines. Mr. Clay highlighted his own ties to the Democratic power structure, earning endorsements from Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Senator Kamala Harris of California and groups like Planned Parenthood. Late Tuesday night, it was Justice Democrats, which helped groom Ms. Bush and other successful progressive challengers, that was celebrating.

snip

[Duncan Grant]

1. Kick and recommend

I’ll look forward to following this story. Good luck, Ms. Bush.

I’m not throwing away my shot...

[progressoid]

2. And Missouri voted for Medicaid expansion!

Things are looking up!

[jalan48]

3. Things are improving!

[gratuitous]

4. Note that Bush lost to Clay in 2018

Just two years later, she flipped the result. I know that folks look at the results of the last election(s) as a gauge for handicapping this year's vote, and it's been a handy metric for many years. But there's a new feeling in the land, I think. Electoral walk-overs for incumbents may not be the order of the day in 2020. Things can change. Indeed, they are changing right before our eyes.

[Algernon Moncrieff]

5. Some clear parallels to AOC & Crowley

Progressives are losing patience with congress critters who keep getting re-elected, but don't seem to be advancing the causes important to the district.