Congressman Wesley Bell - Leadership & Public Service

In this episode of The Rundown, Rene Knott sits down with Congressman Wesley Bell, who represents Missouri's 1st Congressional District.

From his roots in public service to the halls of Congress, Bell reflects on the challenges facing St. Louis, the importance of leadership, and the responsibility of representing a diverse and dynamic community on the national stage.

The conversation explores his path from prosecutor to Congressman, the issues shaping his agenda, and his vision for the future of the region he calls home.

Public service. Accountability. Representation.

Congressman Wesley Bell shares the perspective behind the position.

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Thank you for joining us for the rundown with Renin I. Whenever I jump into my car, I always like to turn on some really good music and kind of set the mood as I'm driving. Well, Congressman Wesley Bill, who happens to be our guest for this episode, is someone who also has a playlist when he's behind the wheel. One song in particular is one that didn't necessarily equate to him, but it's one that's truly setting the tone for his life. Enjoy our conversation with Wesley. First of all, how are you doing? I'm good. Let's begin with that one. Good. Always got to start with a nice, what's up? All good conversations start that way. One of the things about what we're trying to do here, what I'm trying to do here, is to get people to get to know you. So they have a feeling of what the person is all about. So I want to start with this one so I get the inside story on you. Give me three songs on your playlist right now that someone would go, What? Really? How?

SPEAKER_03 1:55

So I gotta go to the playlist. So right now. And first of all, great to be here. Thank you. Great to be here with you. I've been watching you since I've been talking about it.

SPEAKER_02 2:04

Don't start aging. Don't start aging me.

SPEAKER_03 2:05

I won't say since you came to same list. Um but um no, really great to be here, and I appreciate you having it. Thank you. Um as far as the playlist, the playlist, the playlist is gonna is gonna be diverse. I listen to a lot of stuff. Now I'm a hip hop kid. Okay, grew up on hip-hop, and so there's always gonna be some two-part on the playlist. Fine enough. And so um Picture Me Rolling is on there now. Because it it changes, but that's on there now. Um what else is on there? Um I'm a Macy Gray fan. Oh wow. Kind of obscure, but I I've I've always liked her. Um and then what have I been listening to recently? Um it's always something random. Matter of fact, another random song, uh Freeway. Freeway.

unknown 2:53

Freeway.

SPEAKER_03 2:54

Yeah, I like free.

SPEAKER_02 2:56

Yeah, I know. Isn't that randomness? How about freeway? How does go randomly crowd? Uh, no, we started out with a little Tupac, Picture Me Rollin', because uh that is a song that that I know as well. Something that's on my playlist as well. Macy Gray, not so much.

SPEAKER_03 3:11

Freeway definitely acting like different stuff, and then tomorrow there'll be another song. That song is right now. He's on that.

SPEAKER_02 3:19

When when you think of the song Picture Me Rollin', what does it say about where you are now in life?

SPEAKER_03 3:24

Oh, you know, it's interesting you ask that because, you know, in a way, I'm a few years younger than Tupac was, so I was growing up with him, watching him, and um, and and I think about how he, you know, he a lot of people don't realize he died at 25 years old. I mean, he sold millions of albums, was in movies all before 25 years old. And and and and so you think about his path and how he got involved with, I mean, in gangs in some in some ways. And so we we kind of keep him in that place because that's where he died, and we see him through that lens, but he never got the opportunity to grow up. And so I did. And so when I think about my journey, I think about, you know, I'm at that point in my life where you can look back and say, well, this is how I was and here's how I am, and and having that opportunity to to grow. So when I think about that song, I think about, you know, where I was at 19 years old and the path that I was on, which wasn't a bad path, but it but it but I never thought that I'd be a member of Congress either.

SPEAKER_02 4:35

It's interesting that you say that you never thought you'd be a member of Congress. Oh no. At what point did that become a defining uh not a defining moment, but the definition of where I wanted to go in life. Like I'm going to make this journey to Washington, D.C. At what point did that click?

SPEAKER_03 4:54

You know, for me it was a culmination of events. Um and I say this all the time. I didn't find politics, politics found me. Okay. And um my first foray into politics was in Ferguson when I ran for city council, and it was just happenstance that I was there. I I believe in living close to work. So what I've always done is when I get a job, I'm living close. So when I got hired at the community college, Floreson Valley Community College, which is in Ferguson, and there were these loft lofts being built. So I moved in. They're two minutes from the campus. So I moved there, and this was before Ferguson was Ferguson. And I and I I believe in getting young people involved, so we would get our kids volunteering around. There's a taste of Ferguson every year. I'd always have students um volunteering there and just doing other things. And and then Ferguson happened.

SPEAKER_04 5:49

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 5:49

And so now I'm there, I'm an attorney. Um, I'm, you know, I I was uh, you know, I was involved in the criminal justice program, obviously, running the criminal justice program, and it was kind of like, hey, uh, this is kind of lining up with my areas areas of expertise. I think I can help. But I didn't think it was leading anywhere, right? Because if you think back, it was a it was a lot going on. And so I thought, look, I'll help. It's a part-time position. Got my full-time job. I love love what I'm doing, and hopefully we can turn this thing around.

SPEAKER_02 6:20

What has been the reward? Because it's you could say, man, this just is great. I'm making a difference. I'm trying to make a difference. I have a voice. But while you have a voice, others have voices pointed at you, and they're not always the most positive ones. You mean in politics? Really? Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I've heard a few. Well, what what what is rewarding about fighting that battle, putting up with the criticism, and at the same time feeling like you are indeed moving forward?

SPEAKER_03 6:47

So and I'll answer try to answer those in order. Um the rewarding part is that you get to help so many different people and so many different causes from this platform. Um being involved in and with causes and organizations and legislation that helps children, that helps seniors, um, to be able to lend my voice to um um Crisis Nursery, just to pick an example. Um and and different organizations like Annie Malone, I'm really passionate about um adoptive services, uh, the Urban League and all the things that they do. Um it it is very re it's a very rewarding job. Now there's another side of it, is that when you get in politics, you're gonna get people not liking you. There's gonna be some people that just don't like you, like they've never met you, but they don't they don't like you, and that's part of it. And I and I I'm I grew up youngest of four boys, and I think that probably helps me deal with because there's nothing you can tell me I haven't heard from my own brothers and haven't given to my own brothers. So when I see stuff online and and stuff like that, it it it just doesn't it doesn't bother me. Now that said, you know, you want to make sure that you you're hearing what what folks have to say, particularly when it's constructive. You want to give a voice to everyone, and I'm really big about reaching out to all aspects of our of our um community and um and the different communities within our communities. Uh, but I can say it's a rewarding job, but you're gonna take some hits, that's just part of it, and and do as good as you can while you can, and and when it's time to do something else, do something else.

SPEAKER_02 8:31

But at the end of the day, we're all humans, of course. Of course. And emotions are a part of our lives. So when you look at you and you look in the mirror, do you want to be loved? Do you want to be feared? Do you want to be understood, or do you want to be respected? Or in a sense, is it a combination of all four?

SPEAKER_03 8:48

You're getting deep on me. Some um is this some Machiavellian art of war type stuff. Getting back to Tupac, too. He was playing on that too.

SPEAKER_02 8:58

This is the beauty of the podcast. You can have these conversations and talk about a few things without, you know, oh, that's enough of that soundbite. But when you look at it, which which do you think that's number one to me?

SPEAKER_03 9:11

I I'm not sure you m said this, but if if if I without thinking about it, I would say I would I would want to be respected. Yeah. Um it's important in me to do the work and to to to be viewed as doing the work. You know, when I came to Congress, I got that question, we had these orientation workshops. What do you want to be known for? And my answer was I want to be known as a hard worker. Yeah. Um I I think when we look at particularly young folks that young kids that look like me, and particularly with the onset of the online, you know, with with the internet and social media, there's a lot of folks who when I talk to kids, I hear the same thing. I want to go to the NFL, the MBA, or an influencer. And we want kids to have more not only realistic goals, but understanding that it's not just gonna be handed to you. You gotta go out and do it. And so when I got to Congress when I was county prosecutor, even as city councilman, it was about the work for me. And so I I've never lost that that um that mantra. And and if and if I had to pick, I would say I'd want to be respected for for working and and and representing this this region.

SPEAKER_02 10:32

Now you come from a working class household. Was that instilled in you early as a kid that you wake up, you work, then you play?

SPEAKER_03 10:40

Absolutely. So my my uh my mom, who has a bachelor's degree and a master's degree, had none of those when I got my bachelor's degree. Wow. She worked off sometimes a couple jobs to get me through school and to raise me. My stepdad, um uh may he rest in peace, was uh electrician at Clarkwell before Clark Oil closed, and then he would do odd jobs. But um one thing that um the example that was always in our house is you get up, wash yourself, brush your teeth, do your homework. That's the first thing. Then you can have fun. Okay. My grandmother, when I she took care of me after school while my parents worked, as soon as we got home, we went through those lessons.

SPEAKER_04 11:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 11:31

Spelling, all that stuff before I could go outside. So yeah, that that that that work ethic was instilled at a young age, and I had a great village doing that.

SPEAKER_02 11:40

All right, I want you to be honest with this one. What was the punishment if you did not get the work done?

SPEAKER_03 11:44

Listen, I come from a enough that did you have to get your own switch? He had this big leather belt. Oh. And we knew you just heard the little tinkles of the clips on a head come out. It man, we didn't play. And listen, that it there was no abuse. Like I look back on it and me and my brothers, we'd laugh about it. Yeah, but no, he was my stepdad, my and my dad. I was fortunate to have two strong male figures in my life. My my mom and dad divorced when I was young, and then my my stepdad and my mom married when I was like two or something like that. And both of them were staples in my life. So what that meant was when I messed up, I would get get it from my stepdad, and then my dad would call and say, What? Okay, yeah, we're gonna have to handle this too. Wow.

SPEAKER_02 12:32

Yeah, I remember the old saying, my mother was always uh wait till your father gets home. And so the fear was let me try to go to bed as quickly as possible so that when he gets home, there is no, I'll get him tomorrow. And he'll forget about it. No, you got woke up. And it was a start. We learned that there was a consequence when it came to not carrying something out that you promised to do or were required to go and do. So you you make that adjustment at the around the age of 19, you said that I was headed one way but ended up going another. You said it wasn't a bad path. So what was the path?

SPEAKER_03 13:07

You know, it it was, you know, not being serious about life. Like I was having fun. I graduated high school at 17. So I was Okay. And and although I was I was good academically, I think when I look back on it, I was probably on the little immature side as far as I went to have fun. You know, you finally get a little taste of freedom.

SPEAKER_04 13:27

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 13:28

And so I went to have fun. So I I sat out uh for a year after my freshman year. I went to freshman year college, then I sat out, moved to Atlanta with my dad, because I'm thinking, oh, I'm just gonna have fun. Think this is Atlanta. Freak naked still going on. This is that Atlanta. And so my dad's like, yeah, come on down, move down, you'll have a great time. Man, Rennie, I got down there, he put me to work. I'm cutting grass, I'm cleaning the house, trimming hedges and bushes. Like he put me to work, and he said something that literally changed the trajectory of my life. He said, I'm having you, you're doing these things because I want you to show what life looks like, and the decisions you make now will determine whether you have an easy or a difficult life. And I remember when he said it, I like rolled my eyes, like, because you know, it's um I think I'm 1920 at this point. I don't want to hear that. But in my mind, I was like, man, he's making a good point. Yeah. And so I went back the next year to college, I went back to school, moved back home, and I mean, I wasn't playing around. It was dean's list. Like I was challenging, like if if you're gonna give me a B, you're gonna have to earn it, professor. Uh, but that was if if I had a a a um A, you know, before and then an after, you know, uh that would be it.

SPEAKER_02 14:47

What was the moment then when you started to apply yourself and and gain from the work where you felt like now everyone could be proud of Wesley Bell. Look, mom, dad, stepdad, look what I have accomplished, look what I have done. Thank you for setting me on on the right path.

SPEAKER_03 15:07

I think when um either when I got accepted into law school or as I was graduating, that's when I was like, wow. You know, because I there was no one in my I didn't know an attorney until I was an attorney. Yeah. And and and I even remember my mom told me afterwards when um I I think this was when I was going into law school, even my dad was like, is this real? Is he really doing this? Because they knew me, like I was good at school, but I just wasn't applying myself and I was having fun. And so when I s you know, when I started buckling down, even my dad was like, is this really happening? Like he's doing this. So it that law school-ish was was around that time. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:52

Wow. So knowing all the work that you've put in, all that it took to get to where you are, and you look at that pen on your lapel, uh do you stare at it? Do you do you go every day that reassurance that I've accomplished something, I've accomplished what I set out to do?

SPEAKER_03 16:12

Uh I you know, listen, I I am still in awe when I walk into that capital and I'm looking at that outline, walking into that building and knowing where I came from. When I was born, my mom lived in Dooley Drive um housing projects in Alton. Um you know, she worked all these jobs, so my days were spent in Oakwood, a Oakwood housing projects l with my grandmother. That's what I grew up. Um and so this coming from there to now here, oh, it is not lost on me. But what's also not lost on me is that there were a lot of people involved in that. We may not have had a lot of money, but I had a very I had a very supportive village around me that that that elevated me to be able to accomplish these things, and that's why it's so important for me to pay that back. Yeah. Because a lot of kids that look like us, it's not about the positions that they don't get. It's about the positions they don't even know about, the opportunities. Like I didn't know about how you can launch your career just by doing an internship in DC. Yeah. So now I'm really, I'm really um um uh uh big on getting St. Louis kids to take advantage of those things. So that's one of the things we look at when we are interning uh are interviewing for interns. Are they from St. Louis? Are they from our district? Because we want to give these kids that that opportunity that they don't know about. And and also the, you know, that's the seat of power for the world. Yeah. That is, if you're talking about building your network and exp and opening your eyes to this entire universe, I mean, that's one of the places to do it. Um and and and and and I think that that's one of the things that we have to keep um force feeding down our kids is that there's so much more to this world that a lot of us don't know about.

SPEAKER_01 18:02

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SPEAKER_02 18:32

I love the term to be me, you need to see me. Indeed. And they can meet people at a distance, but until the youngsters see us up close, do they really grasp the idea that, oh, I can be that too, and this is what it's gonna take.

SPEAKER_03 18:47

So true. Yeah. So true. Um I remember, you know, meeting an attorney, you know, because I didn't know any. Everybody I knew was on the business end of the criminal justice system, right? Growing up. So uh, you know, when I got a chance to intern my my senior year of college, I interned with the public defender's office and I was in the courtroom like, whoa, like this is this is happening. Yeah and it's opening my eyes to like, oh, I want to do this thing as well. I couldn't agree more.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Yeah, it's like the opportunities and the possibilities right in front of your face. I want to go back to where we started with Tupac and picture me rolling. I I uh it was kind of cool when you came in, you know, we we met out in the lobby here at at Carbon and we strolled on through in the first through sneakers. I mean, where are sneakers in your life? Because to me, sneakers say a lot about a person. You know, it it's you can wear wingtips and you can wear loafers and all that. Nothing's wrong with that. Nice pair, nice things, says him. No, no, nothing's wrong with that. But there's something about the way people choose their sneakers. The way they choose how I'm gonna build it up, because excuse me, when I get dressed and I'm gonna wear sneakers, I always start from here coming back this way. Right. I don't go this way and go, well, which sneakers match? No, what can I put with these today? How do you roll?

SPEAKER_03 20:13

I'm probably an all of the above guy. Okay. You know, there's there's days I look at the schedule and I'm like, okay, this is a sneakers day, it's a tennis day. You know, we'd say that in St. Louis. I don't know where you come. I say sneakers shoes? I know we say tennis shoes.

SPEAKER_02 20:27

Uh well. Come on, you can't. I'm with you now. You I've free. Well, I don't play tennis, so I'm not gonna call them tennis shoes. But you don't play.

SPEAKER_03 20:33

But also on the ground, yeah, he is trainers or something like some pretty. Gotcha. Gotcha. I I would say like when I look at the calendar and I see you know, and I look, okay, I'm looking at, okay, I don't have to like when I was in practicing at the being court maiden or like if I have a formal event, can't do it, but then some days I look, okay, I'm fucking, I'm I'm I'm interviewing with Rainey. And then we doing the uh the, you know, we're doing a site visit. This is a this this so now I'm like, okay, which ones do I want to bring out? Now what I am not is I'm not a guy that's just gonna do what the trend is. I'm gonna go with what I like. Now I have certain friends, I won't say their name, Captain Clayton who just go Jays all the time. You know, and I got my Jordans and I love my Jordans, but you gotta diversify. Diversify? You gotta have different things and just like, you know, I I think that's important too. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 21:35

Diversify is good with me. I'm I'm a straight Jordan or dunk guy, but that's just comfort. You wanted those. You know, I'm doing I'm Dylan Comfort. I'm Dylan of Comfort. Fair enough. Um when people see you, and I, you know, again, this goes back to picture me rolling. So you're rolling down the street walking, and what do you want them to see at a distance? When when they're coming up on you and they realize, oh, that's Wesley Bell, what is the impression you want them to give? As they're walking towards you, as you're rolling.

SPEAKER_03 22:03

You know, I want them to know first and foremost that I see them. I'm really big on that outreach piece and and I want folks to know that I'm here. When I was city councilman and and the unrest was going on and and I got elected nine months after Michael Brown was killed, um I I showed up because I wanted people to s to be able to say, well, you know, when people say, Well, where's our officials? Where are our leaders? No, I'm right here. You can see me, you can ask me questions. And and so I've carried that now even into my career. When I get home, I try to get to as many places as I can and see as many constituents, meet with as many stakeholders as possible because I want them to know that I'm here, that I'm a voice for them, and I want them to know that I'm a work for them as well. And I'm from this area, so it's like, you know, I can't do anything, you know, that that's gonna let the folks down that lifted me up in the first place. So I'm always aware of that. Okay.

SPEAKER_02 23:07

I want to finish with this question, and I I know we're we're gonna really dive into politics, so to speak, but as a person who's putting in the work, as a person who is speaking for our area, who wants to advance our culture, when you think of democracy right now in 2026, what gives you the belief, the faith that it's going to last, that it's going to be here forever, that we're going to improve and get better? Because it seems like there's so much dismantling of what's taking place, be it brick by brick or wall by wall. But as you look forward, and of course the work is going to continue no matter what is ahead for us, what gives you the faith that democracy is going to hold true?

SPEAKER_03 23:51

There's a famous quote where a woman asked Benjamin Franklin, well, what do we have here? And he says, a democracy if you can keep it. And I think back I'm a I'm a histori history person, so I think you gotta put things in perspective. As they say, history doesn't repeat itself, but it rhymes. And if you lived in, let's say, the third century, you thought Rome was the most powerful thing ever, which it was, and you also thought Rome wasn't going anywhere until it until it did. And you know, we live in the greatest, most powerful country the world has ever seen, but nothing is permanent. And right now our institutions are under attack, and there is a parallel when we look at historically how how civilizations or empires end. And sometimes it's from external factors, but then when but with superpowers it's oftentimes internal factors. Um and so I am concerned. I think it's something that we have to we have to be vigilant about. We have to make sure folks understand that when the Supreme Court is stripping away at our voting rights, that is stripping away at our democracy. Um I think that many issues, I'm I'm I'm a big supporter of reproductive rights and bodily autonomy. And and when we see those rights being stripped away, um we we are we are seeing cracks in the foundation of our democracy. And and and and that's something that we have to fight to keep every generation. And Coretta Scott King said it best, that um we we we never win the fight for justice. We we fight this battle every generation, um, and that's what we have to do. We will. That's how we roll.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Hey, St. Louis, we got a story for you.