Cori Bush on midterms: “Woke isn’t dead — woke is fighting”
Former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., announced a bid to return to Congress last month after special interests ousted her last year in one of the most expensive primary elections ever. In the 2026 campaign, she is emphasizing that Democrats need to refuse money from corporations and special interest groups so that they can stay focused and credible on delivering for Americans.
Bush, alongside former Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., were two progressives ousted from their seats over their criticism of Israel’s genocidal campaign in Gaza. In Bush’s primary, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee deployed $8 million to attack Bush and prop up the campaign of her then opponent, Rep. Wesley Bell.
Now, Bush says, Bell is already failing to provide constituents in Missouri’s First Congressional District with the representation they deserve. In contrast, she says they know her for being “on the ground” and their “fighter,” adding that “you can’t teach heart.”
“Whether people feel like he’s failing or people just feel like he’s not doing enough, I have heard both. But the thing is, can we expect him to be somebody other than who he is?” Bush questioned. “Who I am is the one who showed up on the ground when we had a one-in-1,000-year flooding event that happened twice in one week. I was able to bring $2 billion to the district, no matter how much they want to say that it didn’t happen. We were the ones that camped out on the steps of the U.S. Capitol for 7,000 people in our district to make sure that they weren’t evicted during the pandemic.”
Bush said that she envisioned a future Democratic Party where the tentpole of the party was a commitment to not just civil rights, but human rights.
“We’re the party of inclusion, the party of freedom and liberation, the party that believes power to the people, the party of equity and equality. That’s who we are, and in order to achieve that, we cannot be cheerleaders for big corporations and the lobbyists who have an agenda that then makes us hypocrites,” Bush said. “This party cares about making sure that there is freedom for all people, that they thrive and live whole and live in peace and live in health. That’s what this party is supposed to be, which is in opposition to what we see happening now out of the Republican Party.”
“We’re the party of inclusion, the party of freedom and liberation, the party that believes power to the people, the party of equity and equality.”
Bush was initially elected to Congress in 2018 with the support of the Justice Democrats, a group that supports Democrats running for Congress who, among other criteria, refuse to accept corporate PAC money for their campaigns. The group has endorsed her again for her 2026 campaign.
Bell’s 2026 campaign, in contrast, is awash in donations from corporate PACs, including major military contractors like Boeing (which maintains major facilities in St. Louis), and special interests like AIPAC. Bell’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Bush said, however, that the 2025 elections — which not only saw Democrats sweep up and down ballot races, but also saw the insurgent New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani defeat the embodiment of the old guard of the party, former Gov. Andrew Cuomo — proved that there was an appetite for her brand of people-focused politics alive and well in the country.
“I’ve heard quite a bit over the last year that progressives, democratic socialists, like ‘That’s over, that’s done. We need to move more to the right.’ That our message was too loud and too polarizing, and that’s not where the country is anymore. And, you know, ‘Woke is dead.’ But what we saw on Tuesday was that the moment has changed. We saw that people want someone who’s speaking to their issues and not trying to destroy people,” Bush said. “That’s how I got to Congress. That’s how [Rep.] Rashida Tlaib [D-Mich.] got to Congress, and so many others. So, it was inspiring for me and, no, woke isn’t dead. Woke is fighting.”
On one of the top concerns for Americans, the affordability of housing, Bush said that there is something crucial missing from the conversation: dignity and a respect for humanity. In 2001, Bush and her then-husband were living out of a Ford Explorer with their two young children after their family had been evicted from their rental home. Earlier that year, she had fallen ill during her pregnancy with her second child and had to leave her job, resulting in a loss of income.
“We saw that people want someone who’s speaking to their issues and not trying to destroy people.”
“What’s missing is seeing people who are houseless as humans, seeing them as people. And you know, I was not only one of those people, but I’ve also been one of the advocates out in the middle of the night, helping to get people some type of shelter,” Bush said.
In Congress, she was an advocate for the Unhoused Persons Bill of Rights, which would establish the right to “decent, affordable and accessible housing, livable wages, and universal health care” among other protections.
Addressing the United States’ relationship with Israel, Bush said that party leaders have lost touch with where the party has moved on this issue. A Pew Research survey from early October found that Democrats and Democratic-leaning independents overwhelmingly view the Palestinian people favorably, 70%, while a small minority view the Israeli government positively, 18%. Still, party leaders and many elected Democrats are in lockstep support of the Israeli government.
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“I know that change is happening because we are seeing members of Congress publicly state that they will no longer accept money from AIPAC. We’re seeing more members support that we stop sending arms to Israel,” Bush said. “But overall change, where the party is saying ‘This is who we are.’ Saying that ‘This is a genocide’ wherever a genocide is happening, whether it’s happening in Sudan or Congo or Gaza or anywhere else in the world, that we stand against it, because that’s who we are. That’s the place we have to be.”
Bush also said that accusations of antisemitism were leveled against her and others who spoke out against the Israeli war in Gaza have diluted the meaning of the term and have made it harder to combat the increasing prominence of antisemitism as propagated by people like Nick Fuentes, a prominent online right-wing commentator.
She also said that Republicans would have an easier time combating antisemitism within the ranks of their party if they didn’t provide a harbor for other bigotries.
“Don’t be antisemitic, and don’t be Islamophobic, and then don’t be anti-Black. I think that’s the issue, too. So, as they weigh how to fix this, can you fix bigotry and hate within your party, period?” Bush said.
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