Bush grew up in St. Louis. She raised two children on her own — her daughter is now 17 and her son is 18 — while putting herself through nursing school. She survived domestic and sexual violence, and at one point lived out of her car. Now 42, and working as a nursing supervisor for a community-based mental health organization, she believes she’s more than ready for Congress. “I bring to the table the lived experience of someone who has lived through many of the things people in this district have lived through and are living though that I feel aren’t being properly addressed,” she says. “I’ve worked for minimum wage while trying to raise two children. I’ve lived uninsured for quite a while. So I think having that experience [I] can better speak to the issues and help to build the right bills to actually touch people.”