Representative Cori Bush of Missouri, one of the most outspoken progressives in the House, lost her primary on Tuesday, according to The Associated Press, falling to a campaign by powerful pro-Israel political groups intent on ousting a fierce critic of the nation’s war in Gaza.
Her opponent, Wesley Bell, a county prosecutor, ran as a progressive and a pragmatist. But he was boosted by more than $8 million in spending from a super PAC affiliated with the country’s largest pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, and other similar entities. That outside money transformed the race into one of the most expensive House primaries in history.
The contentious contest came just weeks after Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York, another outspoken progressive and vocal Israel critic, suffered a stinging primary defeat. The same pro-Israel groups that poured $15 million into defeating Mr. Bowman were aiding Mr. Bell, and all eyes were on Ms. Bush to see if she would be the next member of the ultraliberal “squad” to see defeat.
Ms. Bush, a former nurse, was first elected in 2020 as part of a wave of progressive victories over establishment figures that elevated forceful Black voices, including Mr. Bowman, during a summer of protests against police brutality. Ms. Bush first made a name for herself in her community in 2014, as a leading Black activist who took to the streets in Ferguson after the killing of Michael Brown, a Black teenager, by a white police officer.
The district is solidly Democratic, and Mr. Bell is expected to easily win the general election.
But since Ms. Bush’s first election, the political terrain has shifted, in large part because of Israel’s war against Hamas. The country’s retaliation for the deadly massacre on Oct. 7 carried out by Hamas has divided mainstream Democrats from progressives like Ms. Bush, who has vocally condemned Israel’s government over its military campaign and the rising civilian death toll in Gaza.
Ms. Bush made herself vulnerable to a serious primary challenge through a string of controversial votes and positions. She was one of two Democrats who voted in January against a resolution to bar members of Hamas and anyone who participated in the attacks against Israel on Oct. 7 from the United States.
In an interview with The New York Times, she declined to call Hamas a terrorist organization.
“Would they qualify to me as a terrorist organization? Yes. But do I know that? Absolutely not,” Ms. Bush said. “I have no communication with them. All I know is that we were considered terrorists, we were considered Black identity extremists and all we were doing was trying to get peace. I’m not trying to compare us, but that taught me to be careful about labeling if I don’t know.” Later, a spokeswoman walked back the comment, saying: “The congresswoman knows Hamas is a terrorist organization.”
And while her race ultimately had little to do with Israel — abortion is illegal in Missouri and crime is high in St. Louis, where downtown is overrun by boarded-up storefronts, giving voters more pressing concerns — her positions and votes regarding the country and its war in Gaza made her a prime target for AIPAC.
Some of the spending against her highlighted her vote against President Biden’s $1 trillion infrastructure law. She opposed the bill because many initiatives liberals wanted, such as universal family leave and free community college, were severed from the legislative package to attract the backing of Republicans, whose votes were needed for it to clear Congress.
The race turned heated, and Ms. Bush refused to debate Mr. Bell, who has said he supports the United States sending military aid to Israel. “We do have to stand by our allies,” he said.
Ms. Bush, in an earlier interview, said she would not debate him because “I’m not going to platform a Republican. If he was not taking all of this Republican money for a Democratic district, then there would be a conversation.”
Mr. Bell, in his challenge, argued that Ms. Bush had been ineffective in Washington, prioritizing her “squad” fame in Congress over local results.
“It was a no-brainer; it’s a good piece of legislation,” Mr. Bell said of the infrastructure bill, noting that it had brought hundreds of millions of dollars into the district for jobs, roads and bridges and clean water. “She had her own protest vote as opposed to what’s in the best interest of her district.”
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