Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) lost her primary election Tuesday night against St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell.

The Missouri progressive became the second member of the “Squad” to lose in the Democratic primaries.

Bush’s defeat follows a massive spending campaign by pro-Israel groups to unseat her over criticisms of the Israel-Gaza conflict.

The Guardian reports:

St Louis prosecutor Wesley Bell defeated Missouri’s first Black female member of Congress with about 51% of the vote. Bush took about 46%.

Bell’s win marks a second major victory for the powerful American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac) after it played a leading role in unseating New York congressman Jamaal Bowman, another progressive Democrat who criticised the scale of Palestinian civilians deaths in Gaza, in a June primary.

Aipac pumped $8.5m into the race in Missouri’s first congressional district to support Bell through its campaign funding arm, the United Democracy Project (UDP), after Bush angered some pro-Israel groups as one of the first members of Congress to call for a ceasefire after the 7 October Hamas attack on Israel.

“Foreign money easily buys elections. And if you don’t think critically- you won’t even notice. I don’t care for Cori Bush, not a pro Cori post. Just an anti foreign money buying our elections post,” Ian Carroll said.

“United Democracy Project congratulates pro-Israel progressive leader Wesley Bell on his victory over Rep. Cori Bush in the MO-01 Democratic primary. Being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics!” United Democracy Project stated.

“The voters have spoken… the many won! Being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics!” AIPAC commented.

Bell focused on Bush’s legislative record and alleged campaign funding misuse, which made her a vulnerable candidate.

 

“She’d faced a federal investigation this year into her campaign spending on security services and had alienated some local allies with her voting record,” POLITICO noted.

WATCH:

“Rep. Cori Bush spent nearly $500,000 on private security, but continuously calls for defunding the police. Beware of politicians who do not care about YOUR rights, safety, and well-being,” PragerU Personality Xaviaer DuRousseau said last year.

WATCH:

From POLITICO:

Bush is the second member of the progressive Squad to lose their primary this year after Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was defeated in June, also having faced a barrage of advertising by United Democracy Project. But the Missouri race figures to be the last major skirmish this year between pro-Israel groups and other Squad members who’ve criticized Israel’s handling of its war against Hamas. The group did not spend to take on Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan, who won renomination in her primary on Tuesday, or Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, who is a heavy favorite in her primary next week.

Bell will be the heavy favorite in November: Now-President Joe Biden carried the district by 59 percentage points in 2020.

 

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