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One of the most outspoken members of the “Squad” is plotting her return to Congress as a wave of socialist insurgency continues to batter establishment Democrats across the country.
Former Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo., is running to get her old seat back representing Missouri’s 1st Congressional District after losing to incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Mo., in November 2024. It’s another battle in the wider civil war that’s taking place within the Democratic Party.
Missouri’s primary elections are this Tuesday, and Bush has spent weeks blasting Bell for his pro-Israel stance and accusing him of being tied too closely to Republicans.
In her latest ad released on Thursday, Bush accused Bell of not doing enough to help St. Louis recover from a May 2025 tornado and instead “jetting off to Israel with AIPAC.”
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She posted on X alongside the ad, “When the disaster caused $1.6 billion in damages and took several lives, Wesley responded by hopping on a flight to Israel funded by Trump’s donors less than 90 days later.”
Earlier this month, she posted, “Wesley Bell is a former Republican campaign manager who is bought and paid for by AIPAC. On August 4th, we’re going back to DC, and we’ll do it with no corporate cash or AIPAC-funded trips.”
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When reached for comment on Bush’s criticism, Bell’s campaign pointed Fox News Digital to a recent debate between the two on St. Louis Public Radio, specifically Bell’s response to a question on the tornado.
“Once the tornado hit here, I got right to work. I was on the ground immediately, but also working with our delegation, which, you all know, is six Republicans and only myself and [Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, D-Mo.],” Bell said. “And so I got on the phone with each one of them. Sometimes that meant sitting in their offices as well, to explain to them how important it was for them to join me in making certain that St. Louis got the resources that folks here needed. So I’m proud of the fact that we were able to get over $200 million and counting in FEMA disaster relief, but we still got more to do.”
Bell’s campaign also shared an ad with Fox News Digital in which a constituent called Bush’s attacks on Bell “just politics” while defending his response to the tornado.
“Wesley Bell’s taken on Trump. He’s fighting for me and my neighbors,” the constituent said.
The issue of U.S.-Israel relations has been fueling an ever-growing fracture within the Democratic Party since Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attack on the Jewish nation-state.
The two-term progressive firebrand was one of Congress’ harshest critics of Israel and its operation in Gaza, well before it became a more mainstream position in the party. She had accused Israel’s government of waging a genocide on Palestinians and consistently voted against emergency funding for the Middle Eastern ally.
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Bell is a more pragmatic Democrat who previously served as a county prosecutor.
Bush blamed her narrow 2024 loss to Bell on hundreds of thousands of dollars spent by pro-Israel groups, including those affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), from outside the district.
The rematch comes as candidates linked to the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) continue to shake up primaries across the country.
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DSA candidates are posing a challenge for more establishment Democrats in gubernatorial races like Wisconsin and a Senate race in Michigan, and have even successfully toppled House Democratic incumbents in New York and Colorado.
Bush is also a member of the DSA.
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