A Black Lives Matter activist won her Missouri congressional race, becoming the first black congresswoman in the state.
“This is definitely a night to remember,” Cori Bush said during her acceptance speech.
The First. pic.twitter.com/h3o0GxeFLR
— Cori Bush (@CoriBush) November 4, 2020
“This has been a historic day from the beginning to the end,” she said.
Bush, who is also a registered nurse, earned 84% of the votes in her race against Republican Anthony Rogers in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District.
“As the first Black woman and also the first nurse and single mother to have the honor to represent Missouri in the United States Congress, let me say this,” Bush said during her victory speech. “To the Black women, the Black girls, the nurses, the essential workers, the single mothers: This is our moment.”
Bush has already been dubbed the newest member of “the Squad” by some, joining congresswomen such as Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ayanna Pressley, Refinery 29 reported. Bush told the outlet that she had contacted members of “the Squad” for advice, including on “self-care.”
“About self-care. Because sometimes, it’s just a lot. After I won, it was a lot of media, a lot of requests to speak, a lot of meetings. So, I reached out to them and asked them, ‘How did you handle that transition period?’ They were helpful. They do different things, but basically, it was just — ‘Remember yourself. Remember that you matter,’” she said.
Bush became involved with the Black Lives Matter movement in 2014 after the police shooting of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri.
“I just couldn’t believe what was happening in my community,” Bush recalled. “So, I went to the streets just thinking I could be a medic because I’m a nurse, help out, pray with people because I’m clergy. And I just saw something that I would have never expected and ended up staying ― just coming back day after day.”
A fellow Ferguson protester, Kayla Reed, also recalled Bush’s commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement.
“One of the first memories I have of Cori is of her in her scrubs at a protest, and it was early. It was in August of 2014,” Kayla Reed, a Ferguson protester, said of Bush. “If someone was, like, ‘Who is a Ferguson protester?’ Cori Bush’s name is on that list.”
