(TheProudRepublic.com) – After refusing to call Hamas a terrorist group, radical congresswoman and notorious “Squad” member Cori Bush (D-MO) was defeated in her competitive House primary.
Wesley Bell, St. Louis County’s prosecuting attorney and a pro-Israel candidate, won the primary and will compete for Bush’s seat in the House this November.
On one hand, Bell will face the winner of Tuesday’s GOP primary in a district that Joe Biden won by over 60 points in 2020.
On the other hand, Bush has represented Missouri’s first congressional district, covering St. Louis and northern St. Louis County, since 2021.
Bush’s loss echoes the recent defeat of Representative Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), another Squad member who faced criticism for his anti-Israel comments.
Supported by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), Bell ran a strong and well-funded campaign. His efforts benefited from a $9 million ad campaign by AIPAC’s political arm, the United Democracy Project.
Furthermore, AIPAC’s super PAC had previously spent $14.5 million on ads targeting Bowman’s anti-Israel statements, making the Democratic race for New York’s 16th congressional district the most expensive House primary ever.
“I know exactly what you’re going through,” Bowman told Bush in a virtual campaign call, joined by fellow Squad members. “I know what it feels like to be constantly bombarded with ads and mailers and lies and B.S. that completely distorts who you are and your record.”
In a recent New York Times interview, Bush declined to label Hamas a terrorist group. She compared it to how black activists were labeled as terrorists during the 2014 racial injustice protests in Ferguson, Missouri, after the police shooting of Michael Brown.
“Would they qualify to me as a terrorist organization?” she asked about Hamas. “Yes. But do I know that? Absolutely not.”
“I have no communication with them,” Bush asserted.
She added, “All I know is that we were considered terrorists, we were considered Black identity extremists, and all we were doing was trying to get peace. I’m not trying to compare us, but that taught me to be careful about labeling if I don’t know.”
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