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Democratic representative Cori Bush became the second member of the Squad to lose her primary as county prosecutor Wesley Bell beat her in a grueling and expensive race on Tuesday night.
Pro-Israel groups spent massive amounts of money to depose Bush in the district where she pulled off an upset victory against a longtime incumbent Democrat back in 2020.
The United Democracy Project, a super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, spent $9.2m against Bush, according to AdImpact. That made the primary the second-most expensive one of the year after UDP spent millions in opposition to fellow Squad member Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York.
By contrast, Bush’s campaign only spent $1.1m and the Justice Democrats, a group that supports left-wing candidates, spent only $2.5m in the district that includes St. Louis.
The massive drive from pro-Israel groups appeared to pay off, with Bell declaring victory on Tuesday night with 51 per cent of the vote to Bush’s 46 per cent.
“I am committed to serving the St. Louis region in Congress with integrity, transparency, and dedication,” he said in a statement. “Together, we will tackle the challenges ahead and build a community where everyone has the opportunity to thrive.”
Bush meanwhile vowed that “whether I’m a congresswoman or not, I’m still taking care of my people” in a concession speech at her election watch party.
Bush is one a number of Democrats who have advocated for a ceasefire after Hamas launched a surprise attack in Israel on October 7, killing 1,200 people and leading Israel to respond with a military campaign that has killed almost 40,000 people in Gaza.
She and many fellow Democrats boycotted Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s joint address to Congress last month. Bush also boycotted Israeli President Isaac Herzog’s joint address to Congress prior to the October 7 attack.
But ads from the United Democracy Project did not mention Israel, rather the fact she voted against the 2021 bipartisan infrastructure bill, arguing she was an ineffective legislator who regularly crossed President Joe Biden.
Bush did vote against the legislation on the premise that she feared that passing it first without Build Back Better – Democrats’ proposed social spending bill that they hoped to pass along party lines – would cause the latter to die, which it did when Senator Joe Manchin, who later left the Democratic Party, announced his opposition.
For her part, Bush advertised her support for abortion rights and work with the Biden administration.
Bush, like many of her fellow Squad members, sought a more confrontational style of Democratic politics, calling herself a “politivist.” In 2021, when an eviction moratorium under the Covid-19 pandemic began, Bush led a sit-in at the Capitol steps, which led the Biden administration to extend it until the Supreme Court killed it.
At the same time, Bush faced lingering questions about the fact she was under investigation by the Justice Department.
Bush’s defeat comes after fellow Squad member Jamaal Bowman lost his seat back in June in what marked the most expensive House primary race in history.
Like Bush, Bowman was up against a candidate – George Latimer – who received an unprecedented onslaught of money from pro-Israel groups.
Other members of the Squad have been able to survive their primaries. Representative Summer Lee knocked off a competitor in Pennsylvania earlier this year, while New York Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez handily disposed of primary challengers.
