Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) easily brushed off a comeback attempt by former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), whom he defeated in 2024, in a race where AIPAC spent over $3 million to help reelect the pro-Israel incumbent. 

Bell’s race was called by the Associated Press just over an hour after polls closed. With about one-third of the vote in, Bell held a commanding 69-27% lead, winning huge margins in the suburbs of St. Louis County and a healthy margin among Bush’s base in the city of St. Louis, as well.

Bell is on track to easily outpace his five-point victory over Bush in 2024, the year he ousted the far-left, scandal-plagued Democrat from Congress.

The AIPAC-linked United Democracy Project super PAC spent a total of $3.1 million in the race boosting Bell, helping him to dominate the airwaves in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District. Bell also tripled Bush in campaign fundraising. 

Bush’s allies, including the Justice Democrats, did not intervene to boost her campaign or help her match Bell’s advertising advantage.

Bush focused her message heavily on criticism of Israel and Bell’s support from AIPAC, while Bell accused her of being more focused on the Middle East than her own district at home.

“What we’ve seen over and over is talking about an issue that is not impacting folks right here in St. Louis, and while we take those issues seriously, you know, the M in Missouri doesn’t stand for Middle East. It stands for Missouri,” Bell said on Election Day.

Both Bell’s campaign and UDP hit Bush as an ineffective and absentee representative more focused on fighting with other Democrats, including opposing then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris.

“I am honored and grateful that the people of Missouri’s First Congressional District have continued to put their trust in me to represent them in Congress,” Bell said in a statement declaring victory.

“Two years ago, St. Louis voted for better and more accountable representation. We have kept that promise, whether it’s bringing federal resources home to our neighborhoods, standing with working folks when they needed someone in their corner, or helping families cut through red tape. That work does not stop tonight.”

Despite expected setbacks in Michigan’s Senate race, where Abdul El-Sayed is holding the lead over Rep. Haley Stevens (D-MI), pro-Israel Democrats are cheering the victory by state Sen. Jeremy Moss, a Jewish Democrat strongly supportive of the Jewish state, for winning his nomination in Stevens’ district. Moss leads far-left challenger Aisha Farooqi by 15 points, with most votes counted.