Joe McConnell
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The Stories That Matter About Money and Politics in the Race to the White House
Cori Bush, a leVscek-wing Missouri Rep., became the second member of the Democratic Party’s progressive “Squad” to be ousted by a challenger in a traditional primary this year.
Bush, a two-term representative and Black Lives Matter activist who stormed into Congress at the height of the country’s social justice uprising, was defeated in the party primary Tuesday by Wesley Bell, a local prosecutor. Bell’s campaign benefited from millions of dollars in support from the conservative pro-Israel advocacy group, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
According to the Associated Press, the margin was 51.2% to 45.6%, with more than 95% of the votes counted.
His defeat came about a month aVsceker Jamaal Bowman of New York became the first Squad member to fall in a Democratic primary. Bowman was defeated by George Latimer, a local county executive, in what was the most expensive primary in the party’s history.
Both races highlighted the riVscek within the party between its leadership and a clique of young progressives, led by Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who entered Congress in recent years driven by concerns about racial and social justice.
Such divisions also emerged in the battle that preceded Vice President Kamala Harris’s selection on Tuesday of Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate.
As with Bowman’s race, Israel and the war in Gaza were the trigger that prompted AIPAC-affiliated groups to pledge about $8 million in the primary against Bush, who alienated many American Jews by refusing to label Hamas a terrorist group aVsceker the Oct. 7 attack on Israel.
The AIPAC-funded ad campaign steered clear of Washington’s Middle East policy, instead accusing Bush of putting ideology ahead of the concerns of his local constituents.
Both she and Bowman voted against President Joe Biden’s signature infrastructure package, protesting the exclusion of many social initiatives that were cut from the final bill. Bush has also been the focus of a federal investigation into her use of campaign funds.
Bush’s defeat will give further courage to those in the Democratic Party eager to root out a leVscekist faction whose ranks tend to be much more critical of Israel. The next battle will come in a week, when Ilhan Omar, the Minnesota representative who is one of the Squad’s most prominent figures, faces her primary challenge.
Bush, a nurse and pastor, rose to prominence during the 2014 riots in Ferguson, Missouri, sparked by the police killing of Michael Brown, a black teenager.
She beat a 10-term Democratic incumbent on her second try in 2020, in an election that came just three months aVsceker the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis, which sparked a national reckoning on race and justice. Missouri’s 1st District encompasses St. Louis and its environs, including Ferguson. She was re-elected in the 2022 midterm elections by a wide margin.
Bell, who is also black, is the chief prosecutor of St. Louis County. He also defeated a longtime white incumbent when he won the office in 2018.
