Just three days after Cori Bush arrived in Washington, D.C., as the first Black woman to represent Missouri in Congress, election deniers descended on the Capitol. “I wasn’t afraid for my life or anything,” she says. “I come from protests; it ain’t no big deal.” She was more concerned for her staff than for herself. “I was like, I may go down, but I’m gonna go down fighting using staplers, printers — whatever was needed was gonna have to fly through the air.” That same day, Bush introduced her first piece of legislation directing the House Ethics Committee to investigate Republican Congress members who challenged Donald Trump’s election loss and incited what she calls a domestic terror attack. “I couldn’t look at the fact that, ‘Oh, you’re a freshman; you’ve been here less than 72 hours,’” she says. “It was, ‘Hey, we have the people with the know-how to get this done,’ and that’s what we did.’” She appeared on Rachel Maddow that night while the Capitol was on lockdown and spoke on the House floor. She didn’t leave until 4:30 the following morning. It’s this dedication that has made Bush a household name and a star of “the Squad,” establishing a progressive platform that includes Medicare for All, a $15 federal minimum wage, reproductive rights, and criminal-justice reform. Read more from the congresswoman, our latest cover star, at the link in bio. Photography by Kenndi Carter Styling by Roberto Johnson Makeup by Tara Lowery Production by Kindly Productions