Cori Bush lost her bitter Democratic primary against incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell Tuesday, two years after the former “Squad” lawmaker vowed to take revenge against the pro-Israel group that contributed to her political downfall.
The race in Missouri’s deep-blue 1st Congressional District was a rematch of the 2024 contest, which saw the Democratic socialist Bush ousted by Bell, a moderate St. Louis County prosecutor backed by nearly $9 million from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its aligned super-PACs.
Bush had hoped to ride the wave of anti-Israel sentiment that has propelled several far-left Democrats this cycle back to her old House seat.
The 50-year-old former Black Lives Matter organizer came up dramatically short, losing to Bell 71%-26%, when the Associated Press called the race at 9:02 p.m. ET.
Bell, who was buoyed by about $3.1 million in AIPAC spending this go-around, had been forced to defend the group’s support for his re-election amid accusations from Bush that he was “bought.”
“What they focus on is a strong US-Israeli relationship,” Bell told the Missouri Independent. “I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of the current [Israel] prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, not a fan at all, but what I know about that group is that no matter who’s in charge, they’re going to support a strong US-Israeli relationship.”
In a wild rant after her 2024 loss, Bush declared that she had been radicalized by her defeat and vowed revenge.
“Pulling me away from my position as congresswoman — all you did was take some of the strings off,” she said in her concession speech.
“Let’s be clear. Let’s be clear. Let’s be clear. Let’s be clear. Let’s be clear. Let’s be clear. Let’s be clear,” Bush shouted into the mic. “Let’s talk about what it really is. As much as I love my job, all they did was radicalize me — and so now they need to be afraid.”
“Let me say this, AIPAC, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down,” she added.
At the time, Bush’s remarks were condemned by even the Biden White House, with then-press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling them “inflammatory and divisive and incredibly unhelpful.”
Ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Bell downplayed Bush’s challenge, telling the Associated Press she was “not a serious candidate.”
“In this election, the choices are clear,” Bell continued. “I wake up every day working for St. Louis, and the folks in St. Louis know that I’m going to wake up working for them. And then we’ve got an opponent, Cori, who wakes up thinking about Cori. And we’ve seen it over and over.
“And that’s why she was fired.”
