The comeback bid launched by former House member Cori Bush was thwarted on Tuesday night as establishment Democrats notched a key victory in the party's civil war with the insurgent left.
Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., defeated the former congresswoman and Democratic Socialists of America member for the second time since 2024. Bell ran as a pragmatic alternative to Bush, while still touting himself as a progressive to appeal to Democrats in Missouri's 1st Congressional District.
Before coming to Congress, Bell was a Ferguson, Missouri City Council member and a county prosecutor. Bush made her name in politics as a Black Lives Matter organizer before coming to Congress, serving two terms before losing to Bell in 2024.
Bush blamed her 2024 loss on the hundreds of thousands of dollars that pro-Israel groups from outside her district spent on the race. She utilized a similar line of attack against Bell this time around, accusing him of being controlled by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Bush claimed that Bell responded to a 2025 tornado that tore through part of St. Louis by taking a flight to Israel funded by Trump's donors less than 90 days later, which caused $1.6 billion in damages and took several lives. However, those attacks failed to make enough of a dent in Bell's campaign.
Bush was part of a wave of DSA-linked candidates posing a challenge to Democrats across the country, even unseating several sitting House lawmakers. This has been a boon for Republicans, who argue that the Democratic Party is being pulled further left than where most Americans are comfortable with, painting the party as out-of-touch.
Bell is now the heavy favorite to win a second term representing the deep-blue district in November.
