WASHINGTON — Cheri Bustos is a former journalist, a fact made evident the second you meet her and start getting peppered with questions: Where are you from, how long have you been doing this, do you do a lot of these interviews, do you like doing them?
But she’s got plenty to say, not just ask. That combination of inquisitiveness and outspokenness made her a natural politician — the type of Democrat who could still win over working-class white voters who have been leaving the party — and a rising star.
After leading the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee to a record fundraising total in 2020, though, she saw the party lose seats in the House even as it gained in the Senate and won the White House. A few months later, following the Jan. 6 attacks on the Capitol, Bustos announced she would retire at the end of this term.
