Rep. Wesley Bell has successfully defended his seat in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, defeating former “Squad” member Cori Bush in a Democratic primary rematch Tuesday. Bell, a moderate St. Louis County prosecutor, secured 71% of the vote compared to Bush's 26%, according to Associated Press projections.
The race was a repeat of the 2024 contest, where Bell ousted Bush, a progressive Democrat. This cycle, Bush had aimed to capitalize on anti-Israel sentiment, but fell short.
Bell’s campaign received significant backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its associated super-PACs, which contributed nearly $9 million in the previous election and approximately $3.1 million this cycle. Bush had accused Bell of being beholden to these groups, a claim Bell pushed back against.
"What they focus on is a strong US-Israeli relationship," Bell stated in comments to the Missouri Independent. "I’ll be honest, I’m not a fan of the current [Israel] prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, not a fan at all, but what I know about that group is that no matter who’s in charge, they’re going to support a strong US-Israeli relationship."
Following her 2024 defeat, Bush had declared her loss had “radicalized” her and vowed to challenge AIPAC. "Pulling me away from my position as congresswoman — all you did was take some of the strings off," she had said at the time. "Let’s be clear. Let’s be clear. Let's be clear. Let's be clear. Let's be clear. Let's be clear. Let’s talk about what it really is. As much as I love my job, all they did was radicalize me — and so now they need to be afraid." She added, "Let me say this, AIPAC, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down."
Her remarks were then criticized by the White House, with then-press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre calling them "inflammatory and divisive and incredibly unhelpful."
Ahead of Tuesday’s primary, Bell had characterized Bush as “not a serious candidate,” telling the Associated Press, "I wake up every day working for St. Louis, and the folks in St. Louis know that I’m going to wake up working for them. And then we’ve got an opponent, Cori, who wakes up thinking about Cori. And we’ve seen it over and over. And that’s why she was fired."