Bush loses to Wesley Bell

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Two-term U.S. House of Representatives Rep. Cori Bush on Tuesday lost her Democratic primary to Wesley Bell, a local prosecutor supported by pro-Israel groups that injected millions of dollars into the race, Decision Desk HQ projects. 

Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, in the St. Louis area, is heavily Democratic, so the winner of the primary is strongly favored to win the general election in November. 

Bush, 48, was first elected to the House in 2020, beating a 20-year Democratic incumbent for the seat and becoming the first Black woman to represent Missouri. The Black Lives Matter activist joined the high-profile Squad, a progressive group made up mostly of women of color that has tried to pull the Democratic Party left on issues such as Medicare for All and a Green New Deal. Her work in Washington has focused on affordable housing, including preventing evictions, and protecting reproductive rights. 

Bell, 49, who is also Black, beat a White 25-year incumbent to become St. Louis County prosecutor in 2018, running on a platform of community-based policing and reforming the cash bail system. He previously served on the Ferguson City Council. Bell initially said he would challenge Republican Sen. Josh Hawley this year before reversing course and pursuing Bush’s House seat. 

Bush and Bell both began their political careers during the 2014 racial justice protests in Ferguson that began after a White police officer fatally shot Black teenager Michael Brown. Officer Darren Wilson was never indicted; a Justice Department investigation concluded he acted in self defense. 

During their primary contest, Bell zeroed in on Bush’s 2021 vote against President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure package, saying it showed she was not supportive of her party and unresponsive to the needs of constituents. He was echoed by pro-Israel groups that spent more than $7 million to support him and oppose Bush, though the ads they ran did not focus on U.S.-Israel policy and were instead about Bush’s infrastructure vote. Bush was backed by at least $1.8 million from Justice Democrats, which recruits and supports progressive candidates. 

Bush said her “no” vote on infrastructure was intended to maintain Democrats’ leverage so they could also move forward with investments in the caregiving economy in the face of opposition from Republicans and two then-Democratic senators. She co-sponsored a resolution calling for a ceasefire in Gaza in the early days of the Israel-Hamas war that put her and other Squad members in the crosshairs of the political spending groups linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and the Democratic Majority For Israel. The groups pledged to spend as much as $100 million this cycle to defeat lawmakers they deemed insufficiently supportive of Israel. 

New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman was the first Squad casualty of the pro-Israel spending. He lost his June primary to moderate Democrat George Latimer after the groups dumped $15 million into the race, making it the most expensive primary in history. 

Fellow Squad member Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan won her uncontested primary on Tuesday. Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota is in a rematch next week with Minneapolis City Council member Don Samuels, a moderate Democrat she narrowly defeated in 2022. Omar has campaigned as a supporter of Biden’s agenda, and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont recently went to the state to campaign on her behalf.