AIPAC Uses Distorted Photos in Ad Blitz Against Rep. Cori Bush

In the First month of its spending in a Missouri congressional election, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee poured $3 million into the race to unseat Squad member Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo.

AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, has gone on to spend a total of $7 million so far to oust Bush. Its recent mailers, reviewed by The Intercept, show images of Bush with distorted features that make her forehead look bigger and elongate her features.

Bush condemned the ads as part of a trope of using racist caricatures to target candidates based on their ethnicity.

“It is shameful that, in 2024, our communities are still being targeted with such blatant racism.”

“It is shameful that, in 2024, our communities are still being targeted with such blatant racism from political campaigns, let alone in a Democratic primary,” Bush said in a statement to The Intercept. “The people of St. Louis deserve better than to see their first Black Congresswoman racistly distorted into a caricature — I shouldn’t have to ask my opponent to condemn his biggest funders for putting out an ad like this and to apologize to the people of this district.”

AIPAC, the leading pro-Israel lobbying group, has been one of the single largest outside spenders in an election cycle that’s broken records for the most expensive House primaries in history. According to Sludge, AIPAC helped raise two-thirds of the campaign funding for Bush’s Democratic opponent, St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell. (Neither United Democracy Project nor Bell’s campaign responded to requests for comment.)

The photo of Bush used in the AIPAC mailers was taken from a Missouri Independent article. In the mailers, part of Bush’s forehead has been photoshopped and appears sloped. The photos are also color altered.

The Missouri Independent said AIPAC’s use of the photo violated its site rules.

“As a nonprofit news organization we do not allow campaigns or political groups to use our photography,” said Jason Hancock, the editor-in-chief of the Missouri Independent. “We would never give a PAC permission to use our photos, and doing so without our knowledge or permission violates our terms of use.”

Ads With Racist Tropes

The mailers are the latest in a long history of ads that have distorted candidates’ skin color and facial features in line with stereotypical racist tropes. Bush’s campaign said ads from her 2020 opponent, former Democratic Rep. Willian Lacy Clay, also darkened her skin. In 2022, a Democratic firm working for Bowman’s opponent ran ads that darkened Bowman’s skin.

Republican ads run during the 2020 Georgia Senate race darkened Raphael Warnock’s skin and enlarged Jon Ossoff’s nose.

With its attacks on Bush, the lobby group is looking to oust a second member of the progressive Squad. The group spent more than $17 million to unseat Rep. Jamaal Bowman, D-N.Y., last month.

Since toppling Bowman last month, AIPAC has shifted its focus toward the upcoming primary in St. Louis. It’s dropped $3 million on the race against Bush in less than a month.

AIPAC has long been known for its behind-the-scenes lobbying but expanded its electoral presence and started giving directly to candidates in 2021. The group launched two new political action committees that year, including a regular PAC and its super PAC, United Democracy Project. The new electoral investment has gone largely toward ousting progressive members of Congress.

AIPAC has grown to one of the single largest outside groups spending in primaries this cycle and flooded Democratic primaries with millions of dollars, drawn largely from Republicans, right-wing billionaires, and megadonors.

AIPAC’s infusion of cash into Bowman’s race made the election the most expensive House Democratic primary in history. And AIPAC isn’t just spending on ads — it’s paying for phone banking and get-out-the-vote calls as well.

Justice Democrats, a progressive group backing Bush, called on Bell’s campaign to denounce the ads.

“In Wesley Bell’s name, AIPAC is peddling racist caricatures to attack Missouri’s first Black Congresswoman in a disgusting new low even for them,” said Justice Democrats spokesperson Usamah Andrabi. “Bell should immediately condemn these racist pieces of mail and apologize to the people of St. Louis for allowing his biggest financial backers to promote outright racism in this Democratic primary.”