Former Representative Cori Bush of Missouri, the progressive Democrat who lost her primary last year, is mounting a political comeback. On Friday, Ms. Bush declared her candidacy to reclaim Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, reopening a battle with Representative Wesley Bell, the Democrat who defeated her in 2024.
“I ran for Congress because I know what it feels like to be a working-class St. Louisan. Too often unseen, unheard, left out,” Ms. Bush said in a campaign ad more than two minutes long. “I promised to fight for St. Louis, and we delivered.”
The former nurse and community activist first entered Congress in 2021 as part of the so-called “Squad,” a group of left-wing House Democrats whose agenda often put them at odds with party leadership. Ms. Bush’s tenure was defined by her fierce opposition to U.S. military support for Israel, a position that drew intense backlash within her district and among national Democrats. In her latest campaign statement, she again called for an end to “U.S. government support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid.”
That stance contributed to her defeat in August 2024, when Mr. Bell — then the St. Louis County prosecutor — challenged her with the backing of millions from groups aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and other opponents. Mr. Bell ultimately prevailed by close to six points, in what many saw as a rebuke of Ms. Bush’s priorities. Because the district is a Democratic stronghold, his win in the primary all but guaranteed his victory in November.
Ms. Bush signaled Friday that she intends to cast herself as the true voice of St. Louis against what she described as entrenched interests. “I’m running again because St. Louis deserves leadership that doesn’t wait for permission, doesn’t answer to wealthy donors, and doesn’t hide when things get tough,” she said, in a pointed jab at her successor.
Mr. Bell, for his part, wasted little time responding. In a series of posts on X, he dismissed Ms. Bush’s renewed candidacy as ignoring the judgment voters already delivered. “When it came time to deliver, Cori Bush’s focus wasn’t on our community, but on her own national agenda,” he wrote. “That’s why our district was left behind.” He singled out her votes against the bipartisan infrastructure bill and other measures to expand the child tax credit and encourage private investment, legislation he said could have directly benefited constituents.
The contrast is likely to define their rematch. Mr. Bell has leaned into pragmatic themes, emphasizing local results and bipartisan measures, while Ms. Bush has sharpened her criticism of Israel and national Democratic leadership.
Her record on foreign policy remains a flashpoint. Days after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack in Israel, Ms. Bush issued a statement mourning both Palestinian and Israeli lives but stopping short of unequivocally siding with Israel. She wrote that she “strongly” condemned civilians being targeted, but her critics accused her of moral equivalence at a moment when Israel was reeling.
For Democrats in the district, the primary sets up another clash between a progressive firebrand who rose on national attention and a local prosecutor who cast himself as a consensus builder.
For Republicans watching from afar, it underscores a broader struggle inside the Democratic Party — between a far-left faction increasingly hostile to Israel and lawmakers attempting to focus on bread-and-butter issues at home.
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