{"id":28470,"date":"2026-08-05T10:54:14","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T05:54:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28470"},"modified":"2026-08-05T10:54:14","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T05:54:14","slug":"wesley-bell-easily-fends-off-cori-bushs-socialist-challenge-in-missouri-democratic-primary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=28470","title":{"rendered":"Wesley Bell easily fends off Cori Bush\u2019s socialist challenge in Missouri Democratic primary"},"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:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/04\/Election_2_26_Missouri_25_53_s1440x960.jpg?f72536d07237fdd262042ae8f5e6e6de3b865f3c\" \/><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Democratic Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/wesley-bell\/\">Wesley Bell<\/a> ended socialist former Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.washingtontimes.com\/topics\/cori-bush\/\">Cori Bush\u2019s<\/a> comeback bid in a rare rebuke of the party\u2019s rising left wing.<\/p>\n<p>On Tuesday, Mr. Bell easily defeated Ms. Bush in the Democratic primary for Missouri\u2019s 1st Congressional District, which encompasses St. Louis.<\/p>\n<p>With 99% of the vote counted, the incumbent led by 59% to 37%, and multiple news outlets quickly called the race.<\/p>\n<p>Thanking the district for reelecting him, Mr. Bell said in a victory statement that \u201ctwo years ago, St. Louis voted for better and more accountable representation. We have kept that promise.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He pledged to \u201ckeep standing up\u201d to the Trump administration.<\/p>\n<p>The primary was one battle in the Democratic Party\u2019s larger fight over its stance on Israel, with the pro-Israel Mr. Bell enjoying the backing of groups that support an alliance with the Jewish state. Ms. Bush is a longtime critic of Israel.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Bush\u2019s loss is a rare rejection of the Democratic Party\u2019s far-left flank, as socialists have been on a winning streak against more moderate Democrats in recent primaries.<\/p>\n<aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>House leadership stood behind the incumbent, and Mr. Bell touted endorsements from the party\u2019s far-left wing, including Sen. Bernard Sanders of Vermont, Rep. Rashida Tlaib of Michigan and Democratic Socialists of America.<\/p>\n<p>It was a rematch from when Mr. Bell ousted Ms. Bush in 2024 by just 5 percentage points.<\/p>\n<p>Mr. Bell outraised Ms. Bush by a 3-1 margin, recording almost $3.6 million in total receipts compared with Ms. Bush\u2019s $1.3 million by mid-July. Benefiting from a large war chest, Mr. Bell ahad rgued that Ms. Bush was too unprofessional and divisive.<\/p>\n<p>The American Israel Public Affairs Committee, which advocates for U.S. support of Israel, gave Mr. Bell $2 million as of the end of June, making him the highest recipient of AIPAC cash of any House candidate.<\/p>\n<p>The United Democracy Project, an AIPAC-affiliated PAC, also backed him with ads that did not mention Israel but accused his opponent of incompetence.<\/p>\n<p>The ads hit Ms. Bush for being unprofessional, missing 235 votes \u2014 \u201cmore than almost anyone,\u201d they say \u2014 and voting against an infrastructure bill that \u201cbrought thousands of jobs to St. Louis.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Other ads credited Mr. Bell with \u201cleading the fight against Donald Trump\u201d in Congress and spearheading a push to abolish U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Bush, however, said the ads actually showed that Mr. Bell could not be trusted.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAIPAC is back, and they\u2019re trying to convince you that a congressman who voted to thank ICE and is funded by ICE contractors is a progressive, and that it\u2019s possible to fight Trump when you share the same donors as him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n<p>                        <a name=\"pagebreak\"\/><\/p>\n<p>The Cook Political Report rates the seat as \u201csolid Democrat,\u201d meaning Mr. Bell is all but guaranteed victory in the general election.<\/p>\n<section class=\"author-contact-section\">\n<\/section><\/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>Democratic Rep. Wesley Bell ended socialist former Rep. Cori Bush\u2019s comeback bid in a rare rebuke of the party\u2019s rising left wing. On Tuesday, Mr. Bell easily defeated Ms. Bush in the Democratic primary for Missouri\u2019s 1st Congressional District, which encompasses St. Louis. With 99% of the vote counted, the incumbent led by 59% to&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":28471,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/twt-thumbs.washtimes.com\/media\/image\/2026\/08\/04\/Election_2_26_Missouri_25_53_c0-329-7904-4939_s1200x700.jpg?9e2cfe70c0737a375e6d3a7f3d4d1428fc223d9e","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28470","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=28470"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28470\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28471"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28470"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28470"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28470"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}