ST. LOUIS — Democratic Rep. Cori Bush greeted volunteers and supporters two days before Tuesday’s primary election with a buoyant chant: “I believe that we will win!”
Bush is known as a fighter; it’s how she went from being an unhoused single mom protesting on the streets of Ferguson to becoming a prominent member of the so-called squad of progressive House members in Washington. But now, the activist-turned-politician is fighting to avoid losing a primary against a well-funded challenger — four years after she came to Washington by defeating the then-incumbent in a primary.
“I’m just trying to make sense of why so much money would be spent in our congressional race when our district has so many needs,” an exasperated Bush told NBC News in an interview on a sweltering summer day.
She was referring to the more than $18 million spent in her race against Wesley Bell, making it the second most expensive House primary in the nation. Bell, who is St. Louis County’s prosecuting attorney, has had significantly more ad backup in the race thanks to a nearly $9 million infusion from a pro-Israel group seeking to oust Bush, an outspoken Israel critic.
Bell has consistently maintained that Israel has the right to defend itself against Hamas and said he would be supportive of the U.S. ally if elected. There are other issues in the race, including a Justice Department investigation into Bush’s use of campaign money (Bush has said she’s cooperating with the investigation and denies using funds improperly). But Israel — and the ads pouring in to contest the issue — has become a central part of another campaign just five weeks after Bush watched a fellow “squad” member, Rep. Jamaal Bowman, lose a New York primary that largely centered around Israel and the war in Gaza.
Reflecting on the most difficult race of her political career, Bush compared her experience to that of Vice President Kamala Harris, saying that some in the party doubted her ascension as the Democratic presidential candidate after President Joe Biden withdrew from the race last month.
“People were like, ‘No, we need to look for another person’. But she’s been right there this whole time,” Bush said. “We are not, as a country, going to just step over the leadership of a Black woman. Or any woman … and for me, it felt like a direct attack, because that is what I feel is happening to me right now.”
“It was 52 years where two Black men held the seat. I’ve been in the seat three years, and it’s enough?” Bush said. “It’d be different if I wasn’t delivering dollars to the district.”
Bush and Bell, both self-described progressives, have similar positions on most issues: They both believe in lowering health care costs, making the community safer and enacting policies that aim to help the working class. Abortion rights, on the ballot in Missouri, have also been central to both campaigns.
Bush acknowledged the similarities but argued that she has been more “in step with the community” she represents in Washington, including introducing a resolution for a cease-fire in Gaza that mirrored one backed by the progressive mayor of St. Louis city, a blue dot in a ruby-red state.
A vocal critic of Israel’s government, Bush has rallied against funding for the Jewish state in protest over its military campaign in Gaza following the Oct. 7 Hamas terrorist attacks. Bush accused Israel of an “ethnic cleansing campaign” as the country retaliated.
Along with other Democrats, Bush snubbed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress this month. She supported college campus protests and brought a Palestinian student to Biden’s State of the Union address in March while publicly opposing the administration’s policies of supporting Israel.
In one of her first votes as a member of Congress in 2021, Bush joined eight colleagues in opposing $1 billion in funding for Israel’s “Iron Dome,” its short-range missile defense system. She blasted Israel as an “apartheid state” and called for additional resources for Palestine instead.
Some Jewish community leaders have condemned Bush’s positions. A group of 30 rabbis from the area endorsed Bell in the spring and accused Bush of antisemitism.
Bush doubled down on her rhetoric. “Do I regret trying to work to save the lives of those 40,000 Palestinians who are now gone? No, I don’t regret that,” Bush said. “Because I fight against antisemitism and Islamophobia. I fight against all forms of hatred.”
Bell took notice of Bush’s positions — and the resulting fractures in the community, where at least 60,000 Jews lived as of 2015, according to the Jewish Federation of St. Louis.
Bell abandoned his long-shot bid against Republican Sen. Josh Hawley last year and instead mounted an aggressive campaign against Bush, whom he once vowed not to challenge, according to leaked audio obtained by NBC affiliate KSDK and verified by both Bell and Bush.
“Ironically, the Senate race is what opened my eyes to the needs of this particular district,” Bell told NBC News during a gathering at a downtown restaurant. “And then the straw that broke the camel’s back for me was when I met with folks on the ground in D.C., and the recurring theme of not only is your congresswoman not working with folks, but it’s hurting your district.”
Bell has also put a magnifying glass on Bush’s campaign spending, highlighting the probe into her campaign’s hiring of Bush’s romantic partner to provide security services. Bush confirmed the federal investigation but referred to the complaints as “baseless.”
Both Bush and Bell argued that the race is about more than just the Middle East.
Bush, a registered nurse, touted endorsements from local labor and union leaders as well as reproductive rights organizations, while Bell defended his record as a prosecutor who pledged criminal justice reform to a community that has had a difficult relationship with police.
Bush and Bell’s political careers were both launched following days of unrest in Ferguson, Missouri, after a police officer shot and killed a Black teenager, Mike Brown, in 2014. Bush gained notice as a Black Lives Matter activist, and Bell won a race for city council in Ferguson and later unseated a longtime incumbent to become a Black prosecutor championing police reform.
The candidates have traded insults in advertisements blanketing the airwaves, including one ad from Bush featuring Michael Brown Sr., who railed against Bell for not bringing charges against the police officer who shot and killed his son. (Bell said the decision was “one of the most difficult things” he has had to do.)
Bell, meanwhile, spent a majority of his remarks before a supportive crowd on Sunday defending his record. “We got community policing, we got court reforms, we got body cameras for every single officer in our district, and we did that by figuring out ways to work together,” he said.
On Friday, Rep. Katherine Clark, a member of House Democratic leadership, traveled to Missouri to stump for Bush. She told supporters that Bush is involved with the party’s caucus in Washington and works not only with other Democrats but across the aisle, hoping to soften the blow of Bell’s attack against her — most notably that Bush voted against Biden’s signature Infrastructure law because it omitted more progressive policies.
It’s the kind of ground support that Bowman lacked in his New York primary, though he too was endorsed by leadership, which traditionally backs incumbents.
Bell closed out his event by telling the intimate gathering he’s “feeling good” about winning Tuesday’s election.
Bush is in a similar mindset.
“We will win,” she said in response to a question about a potential loss. “But I won’t stop just because of a title change. I’m not there for the title, I’m there for the benefit to the community.”
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