Wesley Bell’s victory over ‘Squad’ member Bush in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District Democratic Party primary was the second-most expensive primary contest on record.
JEFFERSON CITY, Mo.—Another member of the “Squad” is headed out of Congress.
On Aug. 6, voters in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District chose Wesley Bell in the jurisdiction’s Democratic Party primary. As the predominantly black and urban district covering much of St. Louis and its northern suburbs is heavily Democratic, Bell will likely secure a seat in the House in November.
The Associated Press projected Bell as the winner at 10:59 p.m. ET.
Bell, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, Missouri, since 2019, campaigned on the premise that Bush was too wrapped up in national political issues in Washington while he would be more focused on his constituents and their interests.
Bell’s victory will end Rep. Cori Bush’s (D-Mo.) time in Washington. Bush was elected to Congress in 2020 after she unseated longtime former Democratic congressman Lacy Clay. Lacy Clay and his father, Bill Clay, represented Missouri’s 1st district from 1969 to 2020.
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Bush is a member of the Squad, a group of nine far-left Democrats in the House. In this primary contest, she was targeted by a super political action committee associated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) with millions in negative spending.
As of Aug. 2, the United Democracy Project, a super PAC partially funded by AIPAC, had spent about $8.6 million to knock out Bush.
AIPAC’s endorsement message of Bell called Bush “a leading anti-Israel voice in Congress.”
In the House, Bush has repeatedly called for a cease-fire in the nearly year-old conflict between Israel and Hamas, and has called for the United States to end aid to Israel. She’s also said the Jewish state is committing a “war crime” and an “ethnic cleansing campaign” against Palestinians.
The most expensive contest, according to Ad Impact, was this year’s Democratic primary in New York’s 16th Congressional District between another Squad member, Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.), and Westchester County Executive George Latimer. The super PAC United Democracy Project, according to FEC records, threw about $9.8 million into that race for Latimer who beat out Bowman by a 17-point margin.
