{"id":28199,"date":"2026-08-05T06:14:28","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:14:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28199"},"modified":"2026-08-05T06:14:28","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:14:28","slug":"rep-wesley-bell-defeats-former-rep-cori-bush-in-a-missouri-democratic-primary-rematch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28199","title":{"rendered":"Rep. Wesley Bell defeats former Rep. Cori Bush in a Missouri Democratic primary rematch"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<br \/><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_fit_1500w\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260728-Rep-Wesley-Bell-vsb-2014-23ea3f.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p id=\"anchor-969267\" class=\"body-graf\">ST. LOUIS \u2014 Rep. Wesley Bell defeated former Rep. Cori Bush in a Democratic primary rematch, NBC News projects, in the latest chapter of a long-term fight over a deep-blue, St. Louis-based district.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-0d4f31\" class=\"body-graf\">Bell overwhelmed Bush on the airwaves, fending off her push to make the race a referendum on his support for U.S. aid to Israel.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2b4e4d\" class=\"body-graf\">In total, Bell\u2019s campaign and outside allies outspent Bush by a staggering 27-to-1 margin, according to AdImpact, an ad-tracking service. United Democracy Project \u2014 the super PAC linked to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the pro-Israel advocacy group known as AIPAC \u2014 spent $2 million to support Bell, largely through negative ads attacking Bush. One such ad slammed Bush for being critical of former Vice President Kamala Harris.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-3435c8\" class=\"body-graf\">It was a reference to Bush criticizing the Biden-Harris administration for supporting Israel amid what she deemed a genocide in Gaza. She endorsed Harris in the 2024 election.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-7f4476\" class=\"body-graf\">As Bell cast his vote Tuesday, he criticized Bush for focusing on Israel and talking \u201cover and over is talking about an issue that is not impacting folks right here in St. Louis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-f84e54\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cAnd while we take those issues seriously, you know, the M in Missouri doesn\u2019t stand for Middle East,\u201d Bell told NBC News. \u201cIt stands for Missouri.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8e0a58\" class=\"body-graf\">At a campaign stop later Tuesday, Bush hit back at Bell\u2019s claims and said Missourians \u201care not happy\u201d that he filled his \u201ccampaign coffers\u201d with money from outside groups. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-754066\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cWhy are they meddling in our primaries?\u201d she asked. \u201cWhy does he allow that?\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-8344be\" class=\"body-graf\">AIPAC loomed large in the race after helping Bell oust Bush two years ago. United Democracy Project poured $9.3 million into ads in that primary, per AdImpact, accounting for nearly half of the spending in the race.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-5ea95c\" class=\"body-graf\">Sidney Clark, a Democratic candidate for state representative currently serving in local government, said he supported Bell in 2024 but was voting for Bush this cycle because Bell, in his view, has \u201cbeen paid for.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-d9a746\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThere are people out there who are using their money and financial influence to buy candidates, and I think that\u2019s the wrong direction for our country,\u201d Clark said after voting at a St. Louis polling place. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-7b024a\" class=\"body-graf\">Airest Wilson, another Democratic voter, told NBC News that candidates who take corporate money cross a red line for him \u2014 even if they are otherwise aligned with his political views. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-47d5de\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cThey don\u2019t get that money for free,\u201d he said. \u201cYou got to represent their interests. You can\u2019t represent the constituents freely.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-efef15\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cCori, it took a lot of courage, but she rejected dark money. So that\u2019s why I support Cori,\u201d Wilson added. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-14dc88\" class=\"body-graf\">This year, Bush ran two TV ads in the primary, each touching on multiple issues. But both linked Bell to AIPAC and cast him as more interested in sending money to Israel than Missourians, including those suffering from the aftermath of last year\u2019s tornado.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-b538fd\" class=\"body-graf\">Bell presented himself as a fighter against President Donald Trump, saying of Bush in one of his ads: \u201cShe fights Kamala Harris, Joe Biden, and other Democrats.\u201d<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-17ab2f\" class=\"body-graf\">Bush said Tuesday that if she were to lose, it would not be a setback for the progressive movement.<\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-69f0d4\" class=\"body-graf\">\u201cIf there is a loss, then that just means that there is more work for us to do,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n<p id=\"anchor-2450b1\" class=\"endmark body-graf\">Asked if she could see herself voting for Bell if he wins the primary, Bush told NBC News, \u201cSee myself voting for a Republican? Oh, I don\u2019t think that\u2019s on the ballot for me.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ST. LOUIS \u2014 Rep. Wesley Bell defeated former Rep. Cori Bush in a Democratic primary rematch, NBC News projects, in the latest chapter of a long-term fight over a deep-blue, St. Louis-based district. Bell overwhelmed Bush on the airwaves, fending off her push to make the race a referendum on his support for U.S. aid&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28200,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/media-cldnry.s-nbcnews.com\/image\/upload\/t_nbcnews-fp-1200-630,f_auto,q_auto:best\/rockcms\/2026-07\/260728-Rep-Wesley-Bell-vsb-2014-23ea3f.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28199","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-pics-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28199","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28199"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28199\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28200"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28199"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28199"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28199"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}