Gregg Bush expected Rep. Doug Mann, D-Columbia, to run for three more terms for Missouri’s 50th State House district following his initial victory in 2022.
That changed when Mann announced in October he would not be seeking reelection in 2024 amid continuing mental health challenges. Bush got to know Mann through his unsuccessful bid for Columbia’s Fifth Ward City Council seat in 2023.
This in part led Bush, a registered nurse who has been working in health care since 2006, to start his campaign for Mann’s seat.
“We ended up becoming friends through that experience,” Bush said. “People who win elections look for other people who have the skills that maybe they didn’t know but can win elections.”
Bush says he’s grateful that the retiring incumbent is backing him.
“You need to have a worldview, a value system and a way of interacting with people that’s going to allow you to be effective in the position and allow you to make decisions that are best for your community,” Mann said. “I think Gregg has those things in buckets.”
Activity in the state legislature also has driven Bush’s campaign.
“I’ve seen firsthand the kind of political extremists down in Jeff City, really attacking our health care system, attacking our public schools,” he said. “I want to make sure that there’s a voice for working families, a voice for health care and a voice that’s going to be an advocate for public schools.”
Bush’s campaign website, greggbushformo.org, notes that he is focusing on health care. He cited how lack of access to health care in rural areas has caused longer wait times in the 50th district, something he wants to turn around.
Support for unions is also emphasized by Bush, who is a union member of Local 955. He noted that Missouri is a pro-union state that voted down right-to-work laws twice and has the right to collectively bargain enshrined in its constitution. Bush said he thinks that the role in protecting unions lies in stopping legislation that would hinder them.
“Right now, it’s not policies that need to be pushed, it’s policies that need to be stopped,” he said. Bush pointed to expanded child labor and prevailing wage bills as examples of legislation needing to be halted to defend Missouri unions and the working class.
Public schools are also a talking point for Bush.
“Columbia Public Schools (have) been a targeted punching bag for people that want to score cheap political points,” he said. “Why are we not retaining teachers that are experts in their field? … I will suggest it’s because of political decisions that are made by the supermajority down in Jeff City. Teachers not feeling supported, teachers feeling bullied, and I would like for teachers to tell their own stories.”
Bush denounced voucher systems because they take money away from public schools.
“It’s framed as parents’ choice, but really the schools get to choose whether or not they’re going to educate your child in private school,” he said.
He pointed to one of his children, who has special needs, as a student who would not qualify for private school and whose education is harmed by such programs.
“How much potential are we losing by segregating out students away from public school and into private, for-profit businesses that are completely unregulated?”
Bush said he is surprised by how many people are interested in politics as a result of him running “because somebody from a working-class background, somebody who’s a member of a working family, somebody who’s a health care worker, and somebody who’s a labor union member is now engaged in the political sphere.”
