The Forum

Cori Bush lost her Missouri 1st District congressional seat to Wesley Bell in the Aug. 6 primary election. The district includes all of the city of St. Louis and most of northern St. Louis County. Wesley Bell, the St. Louis County prosecutor–a politically mainline progressive Democrat– managed to secure 51.16% of the vote compared to the 45.62% attained by incumbent congresswoman Cori Bush, St. Louis’ left-wing firebrand in the House of Representatives.

The race was one of the most contentious primaries in the country this year, with more than $18 million dollars being spent on it. $9 million dollars of this money comes from the United Democracy Project, a super PAC that has become the political and financial powerhouse of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), according to Axios.

Amid the Israel-Gaza War, Bush has been a staunch and outspoken supporter of Palestine and critic of Israel, whereas Bell has adopted the standard Democratic position: being pro-Israel. AIPAC and the United Democracy Project have dedicated themselves to unseat- ing pro-Palestinian members of the Democratic Party’s leftist flank in the House, dubbed the “Squad,” of which Cori Bush is a recent addition. Bush’s demise comes only months after Squad member Jamaal Bowman was beaten by centrist George Latimer in the most expensive House primary election in U.S. history, which was also flooded with money from AIPAC and their super PAC.