America’s powerful pro-Israel lobby has made a top priority of stopping the political comeback of former Rep. Cori Bush, a democratic socialist who lost her seat in 2024.
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The American Israel Public Affairs Committee has spent $1.2 million to help the moderate Rep. Wesley Bell fend off the pro-Palestine Ms. Bush in the Aug. 4 Democratic primary in Missouri.
That makes Mr. Bell the top Democratic recipient of AIPAC contributions.
The AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project dumped more money into the race, spending roughly $23,000 on anti-Bush ads as of the end of March and reserving over $860,000 in TV spots so far, according to political ad tracker Ad Impact.
That made UDP the highest-spending independent group in the Bell-Bush contest.
The race in a St. Louis-area district is a rematch from when Mr. Bell ousted Ms. Bush in 2024. It’s also another flare-up of the Democrats’ internal battle over the party’s longtime support of Israel.
Socialist candidates who criticize Israel are on a winning streak in primary challenges against establishment Democrats, giving Ms. Bush reason to be optimistic about her comeback.
The AIPAC-affiliated ads hit Ms. Bush for being unprofessional, missing 235 votes – “more than almost anyone,” it says — and voting against an infrastructure bill that “brought thousands of jobs to St. Louis.”
Other ads credit Mr. Bell with “leading the fight against Donald Trump” in Congress and spearheading a push to abolish Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
The ads do not mention Israel.
Ms. Bush, however, said the ads actually show that Mr. Bell cannot be trusted.
“AIPAC is back, and they’re trying to convince you that a congressman who voted to thank ICE and is funded by ICE contractors is a progressive, and that it’s possible to fight Trump when you share the same donors as him,” she said.
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The primary race highlights the divide in the party between the establishment and the far-left or socialist wing.
Ms. Bush has support from the hard left, which has turned fiercely anti-Israel. She is endorsed by the party’s far-left wing, including Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and the Democratic Socialists of America.
Mr. Bell has the backing of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York and the rest of the Democratic House leadership team.
“This race is a choice between Wesley Bell, a true progressive who is fighting Trump, and Cori Bush, a scandal-plagued former member who fights Democrats,” Bell campaign manager Jordan Blase told The Washington Times. “Cori only cares about Cori. And when she trashed Kamala Harris days before the election, she helped Trump win.”
The Bush campaign, AIPAC and UDP did not respond to requests for comment.
AIPAC boasted in 2024 of having helped “pro-Israel candidate Wesley Bell unseat Squad member Cori Bush – one of the most hostile critics of Israel in Congress,” by directing millions of dollars into the race.
Should Ms. Bush secure a comeback win, she pledges to work to end arms shipments to Israel, which she accuses of committing “genocide” in Gaza.
Ms. Bush is also running on her support for “Medicare for All” and reparations for the descendants of slaves.
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