‘Squad’ member Cori Bush loses primary that drew millions from pro-Israel groups
St. Louis county prosecutor Wesley Bell beats Missouri representative who supports BDS; Josh Shapiro says he’s ‘proud’ of his Jewish faith at Harris-Walz rally in Philadelphia
Democratic Rep. Cori Bush, a member of the hardline left-wing “Squad” that is harshly critical of Israel, was defeated Tuesday in a Missouri primary by an opponent who attracted millions of dollars in pro-Israel money.
Progressives in the Democratic Party could take a win elsewhere, as United States Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s nominee, chose her running mate, passing over a Jewish candidate against whom the left flank waged a visceral campaign accused of antisemitism.
The Associated Press called the St. Louis-area primary race Tuesday night for Wesley Bell, the St. Louis Country prosecutor, as he led Bush 51.2 percent to 45.6% with more than 96% of the vote counted.
Bush, in her concession speech, said she won’t change.
“We will keep supporting a free Palestine,” Bush said. A crowd member answered back: “Free, free Palestine.”
It was the second Democratic primary win for pro-Israel political action committees against a member of the Squad. In June, a similar coalition of groups spent $14 million to defeat New York Rep. Jamaal Bowman.
Ahead of the Missouri primary on Tuesday, political action committees affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee spent at least $9 million to defeat Bush, one of the first lawmakers to call for a ceasefire after Hamas launched a war with Israel on October 7, and also a leader in efforts to defund aid to Israel. Progressive groups spent a smaller amount — though still in the millions — on behalf of Bush.
The anti-Bush ads, funded by an AIPAC-allied super PAC called the United Democracy Project, did not focus on her Israel record and instead echoed Bell’s claim that Bush was neglecting the district and bucking the Democratic Party on key spending priorities to take ideological stands that could have cost local jobs. Both Bell and Bush had built reputations as progressive racial justice advocates and were once allies.
But Bush’s opposition to Israel may have had an effect. Bell won big in St. Louis County, where most of the district’s 60,000 Jews reside. Bush was leading in St. Louis City, but not by enough of a margin to make a difference.
The bids to unseat Bush and Bowman were unusual in that they were also endorsed by the Jewish Democratic Council of America, a partisan group that rarely takes sides in primaries. There has been a similar phenomenon recently on the Republican side, as the Republican Jewish Coalition has increasingly targeted incumbents in its party perceived to be insufficiently pro-Israel.
In a statement, UDP said it would continue to target incumbents who are hostile to Israel, noting the defeats of Bowman and a hardline right-wing Virginia congressman, Rep. Bob Good. RJC had joined in the effort to oust Good.
“Bell’s win tonight, along with George Latimer’s (D) victory over Rep. Jamaal Bowman and John McGuire’s (R) defeat of Rep. Bob Good, is further proof that being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics on both sides of the aisle,” it said.
Bush was one of two members of Congress to vote against a measure to deny entry to the United States to the Hamas terrorists who perpetrated the October 7 massacre in southern Israel, which left nearly 1,200 people dead and saw 251 taken hostage, sparking the war in Gaza.
In October, Bush called the Israeli retaliation an “ethnic cleansing campaign.” Soon after the Hamas attack, Bush wrote on social media that Israel’s “collective punishment against Palestinians for Hamas’s actions is a war crime.”
She has declined to call Hamas a terror group, saying that racial justice protesters in Ferguson were also called terrorists (though her campaign later walked that statement back). She endorses the movement to boycott Israel.
Her comments prompted backlash, even among some supporters in her district. Bell, who had been planning a Senate run against incumbent Republican Josh Hawley, instead opted to challenge Bush. He told The Associated Press last month that Bush’s comments about Israel were “wrong and offensive.”
Bell said he was not pleased with the amount of money coming into the campaign. Bush and her allies made an issue of AIPAC’s involvement, calling the group “racist,” and fundraising off its hostility to Bush. AIPAC’s regular PAC also raised money for Bell.
Democratic Majority for Israel, a PAC that spent at least $500,000 on the race, said Bush’s defeat was a repudiation of the far left.
“Wesley Bell’s victory and Cori Bush’s defeat underscore what we’ve seen in races across the country and throughout this election cycle — being pro-Israel is not just wise policy, but also smart politics,” said DMFI PAC chairman Mark Mellman. “And there’s another valuable lesson in these results — Democrats do not want division or extremism. They want the kind of progressive results Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have delivered by bringing people together.”
Bush’s defeat came just after Harris, the party’s nominee for US president, selected Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz over Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro to be her running mate.
Shapiro was among the top two or three contenders that Harris was considering as a running mate. For the last week or so, Shapiro faced an online campaign from some progressives to keep him off the ticket because of his longstanding pro-Israel views.
The campaign drew criticism from across the political spectrum for singling out Shapiro, even though the non-Jews Harris was reportedly considering were as pronounced in their support for Israel — if not more so — than Shapiro.
The Pennsylvania governor alluded to the controversy at a Harris election rally in his hometown of Philadelphia Tuesday.
“I lean on my family and I lean on my faith which calls me to serve,” Shapiro said. “And I am proud of my faith!”
Once it was leaked on Tuesday morning that Walz was her pick, Republicans claimed — and some Jewish voters worried — that Harris was caving to antisemites. Harris’s campaign said those accusations were “offensive.”
Others, including Ohio Sen. JD Vance, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s running mate, lamented that Shapiro had been forced to “run” from his Jewish heritage.
Shapiro and Harris both spoke of their close friendship, which dates to the middle of the last decade when they were both attorneys general — Shapiro for Pennsylvania and Harris for California — and collaborated on lawsuits.
“Josh is a dear, dear friend and an extraordinary leader,” Harris said as soon as she took the stage following Shapiro. “I am so invested in our friendship and doing this together because together with Josh Shapiro we will win Pennsylvania, we will win Pennsylvania, and I thank you Josh, I thank you.”
Shapiro went on to quote, as he frequently does, an adage from Pirkei Avot, an ancient code of Jewish ethics. He had quoted it earlier in the day in a statement on Walz’s selection.
“Now, hear me, I’m not here to preach, y’all, but I want to tell you what my faith teaches me,” Shapiro said. “What does it say? My faith teaches me that no one, no one is required to complete the task, but neither are we free to refrain from it. That means that each of us has a responsibility to get off the sidelines, to get in the game and to do our part.”
Times of Israel staff contributed to this report.
