{"id":4344,"date":"2026-07-12T13:53:06","date_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4344"},"modified":"2026-07-12T13:53:06","modified_gmt":"2026-07-12T08:53:06","slug":"aipacs-next-big-2026-target-a-democrat-it-already-ousted-from-congress-last-cycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=4344","title":{"rendered":"AIPAC&#039;s next big 2026 target: A Democrat it already ousted from Congress last cycle"},"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:\/\/images.axios.com\/AN80w7jDInF2S54sikXHTGNB6XU=\/0x393:8256x5037\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/09\/1783568879004.jpeg\" \/><\/p>\n<p>AIPAC hoped it had ended former Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2026\/06\/26\/cori-bush-hakeem-jeffries-speaker-2027-vote\" target=\"_blank\">Cori Bush<\/a>&#8216;s political career for good when it helped oust her two years ago. Now it&#8217;s spending big to stop her attempted comeback.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Why it matters: <\/strong>The left has high hopes that Bush can prevail in her rematch against Rep. Wesley Bell this cycle by riding the wave of anti-establishment energy coursing through the Democratic primary electorate.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;Since they bought this seat last cycle, AIPAC has become a kiss of death to the politicians they support,&#8221; said Usamah Andrabi, a spokesperson for the left-wing group Justice Democrats, which is supporting Bush.<\/li>\n<li>Bush, he told Axios, is &#8220;the model for so many candidates this cycle of exactly the type of fighter against the corporate establishment that Democratic voters are demanding and electing.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Driving the news: <\/strong>United Democracy Project, AIPAC&#8217;s super PAC, has spent $865,000 on television ads supporting Bell in Missouri&#8217;s 1st Congressional District so far, according to ad tracking firm AdImpact.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>That makes it the biggest ad spender in the race so far, followed by the center-left New Democrat Coalition&#8217;s PAC&#8217;s $500,000 and the Bell campaign&#8217;s $475,000.<\/li>\n<li>Bush&#8217;s campaign has spent just $30,000 on ads, per AdImpact. No outside groups have spent money in support of her yet.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Flashback: <\/strong>This all bears a striking resemblance to last cycle, when Bush was the incumbent and Bell, then a local prosecutor, was challenging her from the center.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bush, a Democratic Socialists of America member, emerged as one of Congress&#8217; most vocal critics of Israel after its war with Hamas began in 2023, attracting fierce opposition from AIPAC.<\/li>\n<li>The pro-Israel group <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/08\/04\/cori-bush-wesley-bell-aipac-negative-ads\" target=\"_blank\">spent more than $9 million<\/a> to oust Bush, who was also dogged by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/01\/30\/justice-department-doj-squad-missouri-security\" target=\"_blank\">an ethics scandal<\/a> at the time and ended up losing to Bell by roughly five percentage points. <\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What they&#8217;re saying: <\/strong>In Bush&#8217;s telling, St. Louis is now fertile ground for a backlash to the cash avalanche AIPAC unleashed against her and former Rep. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.axios.com\/2024\/06\/26\/democrats-aipac-jamaal-bowman-george-latimer\" target=\"_blank\">Jamaal Bowman<\/a> (D-N.Y.) in 2024.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>&#8220;People are really upset that so much money came into our district and was used to influence who became the representative this Congress,&#8221; the former lawmaker said in an interview with Axios.<\/li>\n<li>She added: &#8220;A lot of people have said to me, &#8216;Cori, I just didn&#8217;t know,&#8217; or &#8216;I didn&#8217;t understand what was happening at the time, and now I know.&#8217; And they&#8217;re upset.&#8221;<\/li>\n<li>An AIPAC spokesperson did not respond to a request for comment.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>What to watch: <\/strong>With a month until the Aug. 4 primary, the cavalry may still be coming for Bush as it has for DSA-aligned candidates in Colorado, New York and elsewhere this year.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Justice Democrats, which spent $2 million supporting Bush last cycle, is &#8220;always proud to be in the fight with Cori Bush \u2014 the first-ever Justice Democrat,&#8221; said Andrabi.<\/li>\n<li>The group, he told Axios, &#8220;will be doing everything we can to help her take this seat back from AIPAC and deliver it to the people of St. Louis where it belongs.&#8221;<\/li>\n<\/ul>\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>AIPAC hoped it had ended former Rep. Cori Bush&#8216;s political career for good when it helped oust her two years ago. Now it&#8217;s spending big to stop her attempted comeback. Why it matters: The left has high hopes that Bush can prevail in her rematch against Rep. Wesley Bell this cycle by riding the wave&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4345,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/images.axios.com\/AN80w7jDInF2S54sikXHTGNB6XU=\/0x393:8256x5037\/1366x768\/2026\/07\/09\/1783568879004.jpeg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4344","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-political-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4344","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=4344"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4344\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4344"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4344"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4344"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}