St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell defeated Missouri Representative Cori Bush in the Democratic primary, giving another victory to the pro-Israel groups that were instrumental in the ouster of New York Representative Jamaal Bowman six weeks ago.
Bush, who was already expected to face a challenging primary in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District—the second-most costly primary of the cycle, second only to Bowman’s fight in New York—as a member of the House “squad” of progressive members like Bowman. She inflamed her opponents’ anger by vehemently calling for an end to the fighting in Gaza.
Not only that, but Bush, like Bowman, lost to Bell despite the support of progressive organizations, city officials, and prominent Democrats in Congress. Both men gained notoriety during the demonstrations in Ferguson, Missouri, a decade ago, in response to the police shooting of unarmed Black teen Michael Brown.
Following his triumph on Tuesday, Bell will have substantial favoritism in the upcoming general election for the seat representing the solidly blue St. Louis area. In 2020, Bush beat incumbent Representative William Lacy Clay in the 1st District Democratic primary, making it the second time in three cycles that a challenger has unseated the incumbent.
When Bell was elected to the Ferguson City Council in 2015, he made his electoral political debut. Unseated long-term incumbent Robert McCulloch, he became the first Black St. Louis County prosecutor three years later.
The power of the people was what we had, not him, Bell reminded his supporters that night in 2018.
On the other hand, Brown’s father—who ran an ad for Bush in the last days of the campaign saying, “I feel like (Bell) lied to us”—was among those in the community who were irritated by his decision not to press charges against the officer who shot Brown.
Bush tried to portray Bell in the primary as representing wealthy corporations at the expense of the people he was elected to represent in Congress the following year.
In a recent fundraising email, Bush urged his supporters to “stand up against a grifter politician and the influence of big money in politics and demanding real representation for the people of MO-01.” He used the phrase “by supporting our grassroots campaign” to describe the effort.
However, progressives in the House would take a hit with her loss because they supported Bowman earlier this year, but he lost the Democratic primary by over 15 points to a moderate opponent. Bush and Bowman were both criticized by those who opposed President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure bill for their protest votes against it. The bill was not as environmentally friendly as its opponents had hoped, and it was passed in 2021. (The majority of Republicans were against, and only six Democrats were among them.)
“She sold out our president, and she sold out the city of St. Louis,” someone says in an ad by the United Democracy Project, the super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. Ads criticizing Bush or endorsing Bell cost the organization almost $9 million.
Her opponents said that Bush neglected her constituency in favor of national politics, but her biggest weaknesses were the infrastructure vote and her early, forceful calls for an end to the slaughter in Gaza.
The fact that she is under federal investigation for possible abuse of campaign cash for security services was also a point of attack in an ad by the Mainstream Democrats PAC. Bush insists she followed all House regulations and denies any misconduct.
In addition to the large expenditure by the United Democracy Project, major donors who supported Bell’s campaign included the Democratic Majority for Israel, the pro-crypto Fairshake PAC, and Mainstream Democrats, an organization founded by billionaire Reid Hoffman.
Another House member has lost a primary this year; Bush joins them. After redistricting caused both Reps. Jerry Carl and Barry Moore to run for the same seat in Alabama, the all-incumbent Republican primary ended in Barry Moore’s victory in March. Following a recount that confirmed his June loss, hard-line House Freedom Caucus chair Bob Good of Virginia, who had already conceded his Republican primary to Bowman, finally gave in last week.