Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush faces a primary challenger backed by pro-Israel groups

Missouri Congresswoman Cori Bush is in the fight of her political life in Tuesday’s Democratic primary for the state’s 1st Congressional District House seat.

The St. Louis-based congresswoman became a national figure after knocking off longtime incumbent Rep. Lacy Clay in 2020. Before being elected, she participated in the protest movement in Ferguson that arose after a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager. She used that background in activism once she became a congresswoman and joined a group of progressive House Democrats known as "the Squad."

In 2021, she slept on the U.S. Capitol steps to protest an expiring eviction moratorium. She is also an abortion rights supporter and worked to repeal a federal law that Democrats fear could be used to ban medication used to terminate pregnancies.

This year, her long-standing criticism of Israel's government and advocacy for Palestinians is helping fuel the campaign of her Democratic primary challenger and St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell. Bush angered some Jewish leaders after Hamas’ deadly Oct. 7 attack for her criticism of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, including saying in a tweet that she couldn’t “be silent about Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign.” Israeli officials say the high civilian death toll in Gaza is the consequence of Hamas hiding among noncombatants while waging war.

As of Aug. 2, the United Democracy Project, the political arm of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), has spent more than $8.5 million to boost Bell and defeat Bush according to Federal Election Commission reports.

As she tries to prevail in one of the most expensive House primaries ever, according to the tracking firm AdImpact, Bush is unapologetic about her speaking in support of Palestinians and criticizing the Israeli government. She’s said she’s found commonalities between Black Americans fighting for their civil rights and Palestinians seeking self-determination.

“I condemned Hamas over and over again. But what I did not do was sign onto legislation that were Republican bills meant to fuel anti-Palestinian hate,” Bush said in a July interview. “What we were saying was, we can condemn Hamas. And also care about the lives of the Palestinian people and not want to see them harmed, as well.”

Ads fueled by AIPAC don’t mention Israel

Bush alleges pro-Israel groups like the United Democracy Project are engaging in a deceptive campaign. She said that the super PAC's ads don’t mention Israel but primarily focus on her votes that stray from President Biden’s agenda.

She said that’s by design: Missouri’s 1st Congressional District contains an African-American plurality. Neither Bush nor Bell believe Black voters rank candidate opinions about Israel as a top priority when deciding on how to vote. And Bush notes that prominent Democrats, including Vice President Kamala Harris, are in favor of a cease-fire in Gaza.

“So the thing is this, why are they not talking about that? Is it because this is the President's position to have a cease-fire now?” Bush said. “And so I'm really pissed off that there is this deceit happening, because if you believe that's why you needed to run, then why aren't you running on that?”

Marty Murray is a Bush supporter who has knocked on doors around parts of her St. Louis-based district. He said he hasn’t heard a single Black voter tell him they weren’t voting for Bush because of her advocacy for Palestinians or her criticism of Israel.

“Because I think the sentiment is, why are we spending all that money abroad, when we have people in our district that are struggling every day?” Murray said. “That's the general consensus.”

A spokesperson for the United Democracy Project did not return a request for comment. For his part, Bell said last year that Bush’s comments about Israel were part of the reason he abandoned a U.S. Senate bid and is instead running in the St. Louis and St. Louis County-based Congressional District.

“We don't want to see any innocent Israelis or any innocent Palestinians harmed,” Bell said in July. “But I think we have to understand that we do have an obligation to stand with our fellow democracies to be reliable partners to our reliable partners and stand against terrorism.”

Bell, who received support from numerous Jewish leaders throughout the St. Louis area, said that groups like the United Democracy Project are getting involved in the race because “it’s important to a lot of people."

“There are folks in this district who are not showing up to the polls with what's going on in the Middle East as their main reason for voting,” Bell said. “And that's true, but that doesn't mean it's not important. And so what I've been laser focused on is showing up to events and showing up to constituents and hearing their concerns. Because we’ve got to be able to do two things, three things, four things at once.”

Bush’s votes come into focus

Bell argues he has other concerns with Bush’s record in Congress. In particular, Bell points out the times Bush diverged from President Joe Biden’s domestic agenda, including her votes against a 2021 infrastructure bill and a 2023 deal to resolve a standoff over raising the debt ceiling.

“When we talk about the issues that matter and understand how that's done, that means you got to get folks to work together. That's what I have a track record of doing,” Bell said. “I think that's a clear distinction between myself and the congresswoman.”

Kyle Kondik is with Sabato’s Crystal Ball, a University of Virginia Center for Politics newsletter that tracks House and Senate races. He said it’s not unusual for groups like AIPAC to form political action committees because they oppose a candidate for a specific issue — and then run ads on unrelated concerns with a candidate.

That’s what happened to Democratic New York Congressman Jamaal Bowman, who lost a primary challenge after groups like the United Democracy Project poured millions of dollars to help support the eventual primary winner George Latimer.

“It's practical politics to try to figure out attack lines against a candidate that you think are going to be most effective,” Kondik said. “And they may not have anything to do with the actual issue that that group may exist for.

Bush said that she voted against the infrastructure bill because she wanted to vote first on the Build Back Better Act, which contained expansions to education, child care and health care programs. She’s also pointed to instances where she’s been able to work with Biden’s administration, notably on legislation mapping out where to send environmental funds.

But some 1st District voters who supported Bush in 2020 and 2022 have soured on her because of how she’s voted over the past couple of years. Anne Taussig, who voted for Bush twice, but is now supporting Bell, pointed to how she didn’t support funding for Israel’s Iron Dome air defense system and the federal infrastructure bill.

“Her position seems kind of extreme in her votes, instead of aligning herself with Biden, who is arguably the best progressive president I've had in my lifetime,” Taussig said.

Others have said that the expensive ad blitz has left them to question Bell’s campaign.

“She has voted consistently for St. Louis. And she's delivered on those promises,” said St. Louis resident Cynthia Marich. “And I think that I don't trust a politician who cannot stand up for where your money comes from.”

Shadow of Ferguson looms over race

Bush and her allies have questioned Bell’s Democratic credentials, pointing out that he campaigned for a Republican 1st Congressional District candidate in 2006. (Bell’s campaign told the Huffington Post he was helping out a friend.) And some of her House colleagues have come to St. Louis to campaign for her, including Democratic House leaders like Minority Whip Katherine Clark of Massachusetts and members of “the Squad” like Illinois Congresswoman Delia Ramirez.

“She knows that when she looks at herself in the mirror, when she thinks about who she represents, she can stand proud with her chin up and say: ‘I am doing right by St. Louis. I am doing right by my family. I'm doing right by my community,’” Ramirez said during a recent campaign stop in north St. Louis County.

Bell received backing from prominent trade unions, as well as some elected officials like Ferguson Mayor Ella Jones. Bell and Jones won seats on the Ferguson City Council in the wake of Brown’s shooting death, and took part in contentious discussions that ultimatelyled to a federal consent decree for the town’s government and police department that’s still in place today.

Jones said she’s confident Bell can win over Black voters — since he’s been such a fixture in St. Louis County’s local and county political scene. In 2018, Bell successfully challenged St. Louis County Prosecutor Bob McCulloch, who stoked controversy after he declined to charge former Ferguson Police officer Darren Wilson for shooting and killing Brown.

“I believe that he can swing those votes just because of being visible,” she said.

But Bush evoked Brown’s death to level perhaps the most cutting blow against Bell during the contentious campaign.

She released a startling ad featuring Michael Brown Sr., who contended that Bell let his family down when he decided not to charge Wilson with a crime after he became prosecutor in 2020.

“He never walked the streets of Ferguson with me. He failed to reform the office. He used my family for power,” Brown, Sr., said in the ad. “Now, he’s trying to sell out St. Louis. He doesn’t care about us.”

Bell said in 2023 while he was still running for the U.S. Senate that while it was a difficult decision to not charge, the evidence wasn’t there to pursue the case.

“It was a tough pill, obviously, for the family, and other supporters,” he said.