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“St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell has defeated U.S. Rep. Cori Bush in a Democratic primary in St. Louis, marking the second time this year that one of the party’s incumbents has been ousted in an expensive contest that reflected deep divisions over the war in Gaza. Bush, a member of the progressive congressional group known as the ‘Squad,’ was seeking a third term in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District…
“Bell’s campaign received a big boost from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, whose super political action committee, United Democracy Project, spent $8.5 million to oust Bush. She was targeted after repeated criticism of Israel’s response to the Oct. 7 Hamas attack.” AP News
The left is disappointed by Bush’s loss, but optimistic that her views on Israel are becoming more popular.
“Bush being ousted from Congress really stings. In 2021, her first year in Congress, she slept outside the U.S. Capitol for three nights to shame Biden into extending a moratorium on evictions that he was prepared to let lapse. And as members of both parties acted as though only Israeli lives mattered, she led the push for a cease-fire and a reconsideration of post-Oct. 7 U.S. policy…
“We need more members like Cori Bush. It’s a shame she’ll soon be gone. Walz is progressive — for someone running in purple areas. But real transformative change requires politicians to take courageous, moral stands, even if they’re not yet popular with the public.”
Perry Bacon, Washington Post
“Whatever her electoral trajectory may be, history will record that Bush won the moral high ground many months ago, when she put aside political calculations and did what she knew was right… ‘We can’t bomb our way to peace, equality, and freedom,’ explained the representative from Missouri on October 16. ‘With thousands of lives lost and millions more at stake, we need a ceasefire now.’…
“Ten months later, many prominent Democrats echo those sentiments. Even Vice President Kamala Harris, the party’s nominee for president, now says, ‘It is time for this war to end and end in a way where Israel is secure, all the hostages are released, the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza ends, and the Palestinian people can exercise their right to freedom, dignity and self-determination.’… Cori Bush may have lost her seat in the House in Tuesday’s Missouri primary. But, now and in the future, Bush will remain the representative who stood on the right side of history.”
John Nichols, The Nation
“Pro-Israel interest groups never had to overtly and heavily interject themselves into electoral politics in such a way previously precisely because their cause enjoy a great degree of cultural hegemony. In the US, politicians kissed babies, petted dogs, loved baseball and unequivocally supported Israel. That last part isn’t quite what it used to be. The consensus around supporting Israel, especially in the Democratic party, has collapsed…
“We saw what the decade after 2014 looked like for public opinion on Israel – can you imagine what the next decade will look like after these horrors? [AIPAC] can, and that is precisely why they are terrified. They are attempting to plug a hole in the proverbial dyke with millions in campaign donations, but their problem isn’t akin to a leak, it is a rising tide of anger and disgust over Israeli crimes that will shape a generation to come.”
Yousef Munayyer, The Guardian
The right celebrates Bush’s loss, arguing that her views on Israel are unacceptable.
The right celebrates Bush’s loss, arguing that her views on Israel are unacceptable.
“Bell’s campaign was not conjured from thin air by a nefarious cabal of vaguely Hebraic interests. Indeed, it was Bush’s pathological fixation with Jewish influence over American politics that drew Bell into the race in the first place. ‘Bell had initially been running for the Senate, but he decided to challenge Bush in a primary a few weeks after the Hamas attacks on Israel,’ NBC News reported. That decision was made in response to an organic groundswell of hostility toward Bush’s instinct to blame Israeli Jews for their own rape, murder, dismemberment, and immolation…
“If Bush’s defeat ends up emboldening progressives, that will be attributable to the same madness that led to her ouster in the first place. It cannot be that Bell was willed into this race as a result of sincere grassroots enthusiasm for challenging Bush. It must be that an exotic group of outsiders deployed ill-gotten gains in a mesmeric campaign of subterfuge. Quite unlike grassroots campaigns that result in progressive victories, those that spring up in opposition to their goals and objectives must be inauthentic.”
Noah Rothman, National Review
“[Bush is] the second ‘Squad’ member ousted this year, as their own party members shun their rabid anti-Israel hate: Rep. Jamaal Bowman lost his primary to Westchester County Exec George Latimer by nearly 17 points in June. In both races, the challenger won on a pro-Israel message, while also slamming the incumbents for not taking time out from their pro-Hamas hate to actually serve the district…
“Bush accused Israel of ‘ethnic cleansing’ in Gaza and this year voted against the No Immigration Benefits for Hamas Terrorists Act, which would ban Hamas thugs involved in the attack on Israel from ever setting foot on US soil. Bell is plenty progressive: He ran on criminal justice reform, access to abortion, gun control and ‘environmental access.’…
“But he offers clear-eyed support of Israel, praising it as ‘the only democracy and strongest American ally in the Middle East’ and affirming (as do most Americans) its ‘right to defend itself and go after those who perpetrated’ the Oct. 7 atrocities.”
Editorial Board, New York Post
“This primary defeat isn't going to wind up producing any significant shift in the congressional landscape. Cori Bush represents a district that Joe Biden carried by more than 60 points in 2020… They won't suddenly all turn into Trump voters this year. And aside from supporting Israel, Bell will support all of the same policies that Bush did. But it will still be a relief to have one less Squad member sucking up air time in the chamber with endless, radical left speeches.”
Jazz Shaw, Hot Air
