A prominent member of the progressive “Squad” in Congress, Cori Bushlost the Democratic primary in St. Louis after pro-Israel pressure groups spent millions of dollars to unseat her due to criticism from Israel’s war in Gaza.
São Luís Attorney Wesley Bell defeated Missouri’s first black woman in Congress with about 51% of the vote. Bush got about 46%.
Bell’s victory marks a second major victory for the powerful American-Israeli Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), after it played a leading role in the impeachment of New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman, another progressive Democrat who criticized the scale of killings. of Palestinian civilians in Gaza, in the June primaries. .
Aipac pumped $8.5 million into the race in Missouri’s first congressional district to support Bell through its campaign finance arm, the United Democracy Project (UDP), after Bush angered some pro-Israel groups as a of the first members of Congress to call for a ceasefire following the Hamas attack on Israel on October 7.
Much of the UDP’s money comes from billionaires who fund pro-Israel causes and from Republicans of other races, including some who contributed to Donald Trump’s campaign.
Bush condemned Hamas for the murder of 1,139 people, most of them Israelis, and the kidnapping of hundreds of others in October. But she also infuriated some Jewish and pro-Israel groups by describing Israel’s subsequent assault on Gaza and large-scale killing of civilians as “collective punishment against Palestinians” and a war crime.
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During the campaign, the UDP flooded St. Louis with advertising hostile to Bush — although, as in other congressional races targeted by pro-Israel groups, it rarely mentioned the war in Gaza that claimed almost 40,000 Palestinian livesmainly civilians, or their call for a ceasefire.
Instead, the campaign focused on Bush’s voting record in Congress, particularly his failure to support Joe Bidenin trillion-dollar infrastructure bill in 2021 and his support for the “defund the police” campaign. Bush struggled to get his message across that the UDP is misrepresenting both situations.
The UDP was responsible for more than half of all money spent on the race outside of the campaigns themselves.
Bell denied being recruited by pro-Israel groups to run against Bush, but suspicions persisted after he abandoned a challenge for the U.S. Senate and entered the race for Congress not long after Jewish organizations in St. Louis began to looking for a candidate to face Bush after accusing her of “intentionally fueling anti-Semitism.”
Bell is expected to win what is one of the safest Democratic seats in Congress in the November general election.
