Former Congresswoman Cori Bush (D-MO) is coming under heavy scrutiny in her latest bid to reclaim her seat as the representative of Missouri’s 1st Congressional District after questions have popped up concerning funds raised for tornado relief through an organization that seems to have very little publicly available financial reporting.
The issue about the missing relief money has become a hot topic in the Democratic Party primary for the seat, as Bush has refused on numerous occasions to answer detailed questions concerning the organization, saying that she cannot discuss it. The center of the controversy is Politivist Power, a group promoted by Bush following a series of devastating tornadoes that ravaged the St. Louis area earlier this year.
In the aftermath of the disaster, Bush blasted out fundraising emails urging her supporters to donate cash to tornado relief efforts through Politivist Power. The emails promised donors that the funds would go to helping individuals and families negatively affected by the storms, pointing out that contributions were not affiliated with her former campaign committee or Politivist Action PAC.
According to a report from local news outlet KSDK, a publicly available IRS Form 990 for Politivist Power could not be located. The form is an annual tax filing that is required for most nonprofit organizations. Reporters also stated that they were not able to find out how much money had been raised or how the funds were spent due to the organization not publicly disclosing that information.
A report from Trending Politics News said that the television station submitted a series of written questions to Bush’s campaign a week before it published its report to find out basic details including how much money was collected from the email blast, how much of it was distributed to tornado victims, and if any funds remained. Those questions went unanswered.
The issue popped up again when Bush made an appearance at a campaign event after receiving a labor endorsement. During the appearance, KSDK reporter Mark Maxwell once again tried to confront Bush about the tornado relief organization. She repeatedly refused to talk about the matter. Bush told the reporter that the organization was a “PAC that I cannot speak to as a candidate,” and kept refusing questions about the fundraising effort.
The controversy has become a campaign issue for Bush as she continues to battle against incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) in the Democratic primary race. Bell’s campaign has rightly viewed the issue as an opportunity to attack Bush, using the report to make the case that donors and voters deserve greater transparency concerning the tornado relief fundraiser.
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Bell’s campaign has been passing the KSDK report around and raised questions publicly about where the money went, but Bush has yet to respond to the accusations. Bush, a former member of the infamous “Squad,” represented Missouri’s 1st Congressional District from 2021 until early 2025 after losing the 2024 primary to Bell.
Bush announced she would be running for the seat again last year, which set up a rematch between the two Democrats. However, this latest controversy is putting the former congresswoman’s campaign under fire. It’s not the first financial mess Bush has found herself involved with. During her final term in Congress, she acknowledged that federal authorities were looking through campaign spending related to security expenses, though she has maintained she did nothing wrong.
By Photo News 247, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92900980By Photo News 247, CC BY 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=92900980