‘Absolutely incredible’: Ocasio-Cortez congratulates Cori Bush on upset victory over Lacy Clay

Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) congratulated fellow progressive Cori Bush (D) on her victory over longtime Rep. Wm. Lacy Clay (D-Mo.) in the state’s 1st Congressional District.

“Absolutely incredible,” Ocasio-Cortez wrote in a tweet. “Congratulations, Cori Bush. YOU accomplished this w/ the people of Ferguson & MO-1.”

“You’ve shown that the power of grassroots, mass-movement politics is stronger than gatekeepers & big money — it’s about advancing the tide of justice whose time has come,” she continued. 

Ocasio-Cortez did not endorse Bush in the primary. Clay had signed on to a number of other issues with the progressive firebrand, including the Green New Deal. 

Both Ocasio-Cortez and Bush have had similar trajectories to congressional primary victories, ousting longtime establishment Democrats through grass-roots movements. 

Ocasio-Cortez beat former Rep. Joseph Crowley (D-N.Y.) in 2018, who, at the time, was believed to be a potential successor for the position of Speaker of the House, a role now held by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.). At the time, Ocasio-Cortez had experience organizing for Sen. Bernie Sanders’s (I-Vt.) presidential campaign. 

Bush, a nurse and Black Lives Matter activist, ousted Clay after he had held the seat since 2001, succeeding his father, who held the same seat for 32 years.

Bush first gained public attention after she was featured in the Netflix documentary “Knock Down the House,” a film in which Ocasio-Cortez was also featured.

Her candidacy is historic in that she could be the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress. 

She is the favorite to win the 1st District, which Clay won by more than 60 points in the 2018 general election. 

“We want to say thank you to all that went on a limb to support this grass-roots campaign, because they believed in us, and we want to say to those who didn’t believe in us, we’re going to take care of you too,” Bush told her supporters after her victory.  

Bush’s victory comes as Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), another progressive woman of color, won her Democratic primary over her challenger, Brenda Jones.