Progressive challenger Cori Bush defeated Rep. William Lacy Clay in the Democratic primary for Missouri’s 1st Congressional District on Tuesday, adding to the activist left’s winning streak. The primary win in one of the most Democratic House seats in the country assures Bush’s spot in the next Congress.
In remarks to supporters late Tuesday night, Bush characterized her win as the culmination of activist work that began when a white police officer killed Black teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014.
“It is historic that this year of all years, we’re sending a Black, working-class single mother … all the way to the halls of Congress!” she said over cheers and chants of “good trouble.”
Bush’s success follows an attempt to unseat Clay in 2018, when he won by nearly 20 percentage points.
Though Bush received more endorsements and spent more on ads against Clay this time around, her victory is the culmination of efforts by protesters who laid the groundwork for the current movement. As HuffPost reporter Ryan Reilly examines in the link below, Ferguson not only prepared Missouri for this moment, but the entire country. | 
