The National Black Empowerment Action Fund, founded by AIPAC alumnus Darius Jones, recently began spending in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District to raise awareness around what Jones called Rep. Cori Bush’s (D-MO) underwhelming “job performance” on such issues as school choice, public safety and infrastructure investment.

The group’s move comes as outside spending in what’s expected to be a tight race has been quietly adding up. The Aug. 6 primary has become one of the most expensive of the congressional cycle, with more than $11 million in independent expenditures — fueled largely by AIPAC’s active engagement in the contest.

In an interview with JI on Thursday, Jones, who previously served as AIPAC’s national African American constituency director, said that Black Democrats are fed up with “extremism” among members of Congress who he claimed are not representing the interests of Black constituents.

“We also recognize that those same members within the Congress, and particularly within the Squad, tend to be the ones who are most overtly anti-Israel — and the ones who are engaging in rhetoric which further alienates and endangers Jewish people here in the United States of America,” he added. “That kind of a convergence of interests really is paramount in our efforts to try to get those folks out and to bring better leadership to Black communities.”

The group, which kicked off its new campaign early last week and will continue through the end of the race, is initially investing in the “high six figures” but could spend more “as resources permit,” according to a spokesperson. The effort, Jones said, includes digital ads, direct mail and door-to-door canvassing highlighting instances in which Bush has opposed key policies of the Biden-Harris administration while breaking with fellow members of the Congressional Black Caucus.

In late June, the group commissioned a poll of 300 Black Democrats — conducted by Mercury Public Affairs and reviewed by JI — that showed Bush leading her opponent, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, by 13 percentage points (46-33%).

When respondents were informed of Bell’s “record on public safety and criminal justice reform,” a polling memo shared with JI notes, “the Black community splits evenly at 40%” for both candidates.

Other polling on the primary, including a recent survey commissioned by DMFI PAC and conducted in mid-June, has shown a close race between Bush and Bell.

Fundraising reports filed by both campaigns on Thursday showed Bell with a commanding financial lead — he’s raised a total of $4.7 million, including $611,000 between July 1 and July 17, as compared to Bush’s $2.8 million total haul and $235,000 in the period. Bell has nearly $2 million on hand, while Bush has $354,000.

Jones clarified that his group, which also worked to unseat Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) last month, is not directly backing Bell’s campaign but is instead encouraging voters to consider Bush’s positions and to contact her office so she can have the “opportunity to respond to the information that we’re sharing.”

The largest portion of outside spending in the district has come from the AIPAC-linked United Democracy project, which has spent more than $7 million supporting Bell and opposing Bush as of this week.

Other major independent spenders include Justice Democrats, which has spent $1.5 million supporting Bush; pro-cryptocurrency PAC FairShake, which has dropped $1 million against Bush; the Reid Hoffman-funded Mainstream Democrats PAC, which has spent $875,000 supporting Bell; Democratic Majority for Israel, which has spent $475,000 supporting Bell; and the Working Families Party, which has spent $400,000 for Bush.

UDP’s ads largely blast Bush as an ineffective lawmaker, highlighting that she’s passed no legislation, missed a significant number of votes and voted against the infrastructure and debt ceiling bills. The ad campaign, which does not mention Israel, accuses Bush of having “her own agenda” that’s damaging to the district — a similar message to the one UDP deployed against Bowman.

“I think Cori Bush has her own agenda, and Cori Bush is her agenda,” one constituent said in an ad that recently finished running in the district. Another featured a construction worker who accuses Bush of failing to “deliver for St. Louis.”

Pro-Bell ads laud him as a reformist prosecutor, highlight his efforts to fight abortion bans and say that he will “deliver for us.” Bush’s campaign has questioned Bell’s record on abortion rights.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) and other House leaders have endorsed Bush — in line with their unofficial policy of endorsing Democratic incumbents — but he told reporters on Thursday he’s “not currently scheduled” to campaign with Bush in her district.

In another boost to Bell, he picked up the “enthusiastic endorsement” of the St. Louis Post-Dispatch on Thursday, which described Bush as “less interested in working [the federal government] system for the good of her constituents than attacking it on behalf of a small, hard-left klatch of lawmakers — ‘the Squad’ — who are good at getting headlines but bad at actually accomplishing anything.”

It described Bush’s stance on the war in Gaza as “outrageous”: “Bush’s tendency to equate both sides — and even to side with the terrorists, as when she cast one of just two House votes against a resolution to bar Hamas members from the U.S. — should in itself be disqualifying for re-election.”

The editorial called Bell’s stance “appropriately measured.” Bush, the editorial board said, declined its interview request. Her campaign did not respond to a request for comment from JI.