Black Progressive Women Made History In Missouri Last Night

Missouri politics was hit with a “wave of Black girl magic,” in the words of city treasurer Tishaura Jones, who is one of three women who earned historic wins in yesterday’s primary election in the state.

Jones, along with circuit attorney Kim Gardner and U.S. House of Representatives candidate Cori Bush, is part of an unprecedented trend of Black women succeeding at the polls this year. Bush, in particular, beat out 10-term establishment Democratic incumbent William Lacy Clay to go on and compete in the general election.

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If Bush were to win, she would be the first Black woman to represent Missouri in the U.S. Congress. Bush’s victory against Clay was a major upset, especially after she lost against Clay (whose father also served as a House representative before him) in 2018. Bush, Jones and Gardner, because they are running in heavily Democratic areas, are all likely winners in the November 3 general election.

What makes the victory even sweeter is that Bush, Jones and Gardner are longtime friends with a shared activist background.

“Two weeks ago, I called Cori and said can you imagine what would happen if all three of us won?” Jones said at a celebratory news conference with Bush and Gardner on Wednesday afternoon near the Gateway Arch, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “I said, ‘Girl, the ground would shake. There would be a seismic shift.’”

Jones added that “all three of us are single moms, so we lead from a different place. We lead from wondering how others who are in our same situation are going to pay their bills, keep a roof over their head.”

Bush said, “St. Louis spoke and St. Louis said we’re tired of what was, we’re tired of the dirty politics. … We want to see and we need Black women leaders in St. Louis.”

“Voters are looking for a new generation of leadership,” said Glynda C. Carr, president and CEO of Higher Heights for America, an organization that promotes Black women for elective positions across the country and tracks their progress.

“They bring their qualifications but also their unique lived experiences.”