Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Stumps For Cori Bush In St. Louis: Video

ST. LOUIS, MO — Self-described Democratic Socialist Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, whose recent win in New York's Democratic primary sent shockwaves through the party's establishment wing, will visit St. Louis on July 21 to stump for Democratic hopeful Cori Bush. Bush is running for a seat in Congress and hopes to unseat Rep. William Lacy Clay (MO-1) in the state's August 7 primary.

In her own primary race, 28-year-old Ocasio-Cortez, who campaigned for Bernie Sanders in the last presidential election, unseated Joe Crowley, a 10-term veteran expected by many to be his party's next leader in Congress.

Like Ocasio-Cortez, many are calling Bush's run a longshot. An ordained pastor and a registered nurse, Bush previously lost a 2016 Democratic Senate primary to Jason Kander, who in turn lost to current Republican Sen. Roy Blunt in November of that year.

Bush says, as a single mother, she has "felt the burden of being uninsured and the pain of homelessness." She is a survivor of sexual assault and domestic violence, and has made raising the minimum wage, passing Medicare for all, and taking on student loan debt key campaign issues.

Bush also says she marched with protesters in the streets of Ferguson and will fight to end mass incarceration, private prison subsidies, and the cash bail system.

Like Ocasio-Cortez, Bush has refused to take donations from corporations and their political actions committees, or PACs. Both women are supported by Brand New Congress, a grassroots progressive organization comprised of former Sanders staffers.

Ocasio-Cortez was herself a former Sanders staffer, working on the candidate's campaign in The Bronx. Her win — and Bush's too if she manages to pull it off — is part of the "Summer of Progress," a push from several progressive organizations, including Brand New Congress, Our Revolution, Justice Democrats, Fight for 15 and others, to push Congress, and the Democratic Party, to the left. In doing so, the groups are facing opposition not just from conservatives, but from fellow Democrats.

Women like Ocasio-Cortez and Bush are increasingly finding a path to victory in elections that once seemed improbable. For example, voters in Virginia last year elected Danica Roem, the first openly transgender woman ever to be elected to a state legislature. She was one of 11 progressive women who unseated Republican men in the state's House of Delegates in 2017.

Rutgers' Center for American Women and Politics says that about 600 women nationwide are running for statewide and federal office in the upcoming midterms — a record.

The event featuring Ocasio-Cortez is scheduled for July 21 from 6 p.m to 9 p.m. A location is still to be announced. State Rep. Bruce Franks Jr., who represents Missouri's 78th district, will also speak. The event is free and open to the public.

Find more information here.

Patch reporter Danielle Woodward contributed to this report.

Photo: Progressive challenger Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez celebrartes with supporters at a victory party in The Bronx after upsetting incumbent Democratic Representative Joseph Crowley on June 26, 2018 in New York City. (Scott Heins/Getty Images)