Wesley Bell, a former St. Louis prosecutor, has entered into the Democratic primary for Missouri’s First Congressional District against Rep. Cori Bush. Bell, previously a candidate for U.S. Senate, made the switch two weeks ago.
Bush was previously uncontested for re-election, but the war in Gaza has created division among the Black political class and ordinary Democrats. In this case, the conflict, and the hot-button issues of Israel and Palestine, has pitted two politicians who came out of the early days of the Black Lives Matter movement against one another.
And it isn’t just Bush—several others in her progressive cohort, like Reps. Jamaal Bowman and Ilhan Omar, are also facing primary challenges related to the conflict in Gaza. As we have covered at the Prospect, in the last several cycles the lobbying group AIPAC has spent millions in Democratic primaries attempting to topple progressive critics of Israel, often with progressive-sounding advertisements that don’t mention the country at all (while simultaneously endorsing many Republicans who voted to overturn the 2020 election). The new war in Gaza will supercharge that effort.
Bell and Rep. Bush both rose to attention in the aftermath of Michael Brown’s death at the hands of Ferguson, Missouri, police. Bush repeatedly spoke out against Brown’s murder, participating in protests and eventually launching a campaign to unseat Rep. Lacy Clay (D-MO), whose family had been in Congress from this area since 1969. Bush lost in 2018, but the backlash against Ferguson police and the city’s mishandling of the case propelled her to victory in 2020. Since then, she has served in the House as the first Black woman to represent Missouri, and aligned herself with “the Squad,” the young House progressives such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez who were elected as a result of a resurgence of democratic socialism and rising discontent with the status quo, including the criminal justice system.
Bell took a different path. During the protests in Ferguson, he counseled for calm. Afterward, he was elected to the Ferguson City Council with activist support, helping to implement the overhaul of the city’s criminal justice apparatus. He then became the county prosecutor for St. Louis County in 2018, running on a reform platform and upsetting a 28-year white incumbent, Bob McCulloch.
As the county’s first Black prosecutor, Bell took a different approach by changing standards for bail and bond, marijuana possession prosecution, and more. His office reopened the Michael Brown case, but ultimately declined to indict Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Brown, in 2020.
Bell was previously running to be Missouri’s first Black senator, with the aim to unseat Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) in the conservative state. After his switch, Bush’s campaign director Devon Moody released a statement that read, in part: “It is disheartening that Prosecuting Attorney Bell has decided to abandon his U.S. Senate campaign to become Missouri’s first Black senator after less than five months, and has instead decided to target Missouri’s first Black congresswoman.”
Bush and Bell share many of the same supporters, but the divergence over Israel has become a critical litmus test on the left wing of the party.
Bell’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. But it’s clear that Bush’s vocal position on Israel’s war with Hamas, breaking from the Democratic Party to call for a cease-fire, triggered Bell’s entry into the race. In his press conference announcing the switch, he said: “Understand this unique place that we are with the world literally on fire … I think that we need to make certain that we are providing that effective leadership, not only in our district but in D.C. and on the world stage.”
Bush and Bell share many of the same supporters, but the divergence over Israel has become a critical litmus test on the left wing of the party. For some, promoting Israel’s national safety is of the utmost importance; for others, Palestinian freedom should be at the forefront of all discussions.
As The New York Times reported, Jamaal Bowman, Ilhan Omar, and other members of the Squad have also garnered backlash for their stances on the issue, and now have challengers for the same reason. Omar has two different challengers, in fact.
It’s virtually certain that Bell will receive support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its companion, Democratic Majority for Israel. Last year, AIPAC and other groups spent tens of millions of dollars in Democratic primaries. This week, Prospect alum Alexander Sammon reported for Slate that AIPAC plans to spend at least $100 million on primaries against the Squad.
“This cycle will be a real test of whether the broader Squad, such as it is, has the capacity to fundraise collectively and fight back against organized money, or whether it’s each person for themselves,” Ryan Grim, D.C. bureau chief of The Intercept and author of a forthcoming book on the Squad, told the Prospect.
Historically, Black voters have aligned with Israel’s interests, out of solidarity and corralling by the Democratic Party. But the current war in Gaza has highlighted the nuances of the issue for many voters, and Black voters may soon express that Palestinians need solidarity just as much. Regardless, the race between Bush and Bell, and many other primaries, will force Black voters to take a stance on the issue. Where they land has the potential to shape politics well beyond the current primary cycle.
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