The two appeared to be attending an American Muslims for Palestine conference
Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images
Former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) delivers her concession speech during a primary election watch party at Chevre Events on August 6, 2024 in St Louis, Missouri.
Add JewishInsider on GoogleFormer Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who is running against Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) in an attempt to reclaim her former seat in Congress, posed for a photo with Guy Christensen, an anti-Israel influencer who defended the Capital Jewish Museum shooting, in which two Israeli Embassy employees were murdered.
Christensen, on TikTok, lauded Elias Rodriguez, who has been indicted for the D.C. shooting, encouraging his followers to support the alleged gunman, characterizing the shooting as “justified” and an “act of resistance,” and urging his followers to respond with “greater resistance and escalation.”
“I do not condemn the elimination of those two Zionist officials,” Christensen said on social media at the time of the shooting. “[Rodriguez] is not a terrorist. He’s a resistance fighter. And the fact is that the fight against Israel’s war machine, against their genocide machine, against their criminality, includes their foreign diplomats in this country and internationally.”
The Ohio State University expelled Christensen over the video and TikTok removed it.
The influencer posted a photo last week from what appears to be a recent American Muslims for Palestine conference — Christensen is wearing an AMP lanyard and speaker badge — alongside a smiling Bush, with the caption “We’re coming for you AIPAC.”
AMP held its annual Palestine Convention last week in Illinois.
AMP has been sued by victims of Hamas for alleged ties to the terror group, describing AMP as an “alter ego” of a now-defunct group that was shuttered for providing financial support to Hamas.
It is under investigation by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee for its activities on college campuses — Students for Justice in Palestine grew out of AMP — and the House Ways and Means Committee urged the Internal Revenue Service to revoke its tax exempt status.
The Virginia attorney general is also investigating the group, a probe which led a Virginia judge to order the group to turn over closely held financial documents. And the New Jersey branch of the group is being sued by the Department of Justice.
Bush’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment. She has made her criticism of Israel and other extremist stances a centerpiece of her campaign.
Elsewhere, Michael Blake, a former assemblyman running in the Democratic primary against Rep. Ritchie Torres (D-NY), faced backlash from major New York Jewish groups and local rabbis for featuring a clip of Christensen in a launch video for his campaign against Torres. Blake later apologized.
In a speech at a ‘No Kings’ rally, Bush spent time eulogizing convicted murderer Assata Shakur
Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
Rep. Cori Bush at a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol to call for a ceasefire in Gaza on November 13, 2023.
In her congressional comeback attempt against Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO), former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) is continuing to lean into extreme rhetoric and stances.
Speaking at an anti-Trump “No Kings” rally in St. Louis shortly after launching her campaign, Bush dedicated extensive time to eulogizing murderer and escaped convict Assata Shakur, an activist who killed a police officer in 1977 and later escaped from prison. Shakur died in Cuba in September.
Bush, in her remarks, described Shakur as “an activist that we recently lost” who “gave us a mantra that we live by. She said it is our duty to fight for our freedom.”
During those remarks, Bush — who has faced repeated accusations of antisemitism — made passing reference to fighting antisemitism and other forms of bigotry.
She finished other remarks about the Trump administration — seemingly unrelated to Israel policy — with a shout of “Free Palestine.”
On X, Bush continues to attack Israel and its supporters as a central message of her campaign, including reposting unfounded claims accusing Israel of violating its ceasefire agreement with Hamas — a subject she has otherwise not addressed on her account, including when the agreement was initially announced.
Bush reposted a response on X to her announcement video that explicitly framed her campaign around her opposition to AIPAC, reading, “Rematch in St. Louis, Cori Bush taking on AIPAC again.”
In that video, Bush continued to implicitly blame her 2024 loss to Bell on AIPAC. Discussing that loss, she said she faced attacks for the fact that she “spoke truth,” accusing her opponents of spreading “lies and hate” about her, while flashing up a series of headlines relating to AIPAC spending in the race.
Responding on X to a video of House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) discussing plans to jointly nominate President Donald Trump for the Nobel Peace Prize with Israeli and other international lawmakers, Bush said, “You should probably tell him [Trump] this won’t get him into heaven.”
Since launching her campaign, Bush has also reposted X posts accusing Israel of genocide, supporting International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice efforts targeting Israel, attacking American supporters of Israel and attacking CBS News editor-in-chief Bari Weiss and the publication she founded, The Free Press, for their Israel coverage.
Campaign website
Katie Wilson
Good Wednesday morning.
In today’s Daily Kickoff, we look at the rise of far-left Democratic candidates around the country, and report on former Rep. Cori Bush’s plans to challenge Rep. Wesley Bell for her old House seat in Missouri. We scoop the departure of General Motors’ head of philanthropy following the discovery of her anti-Israel social media activity, and report on the Anti-Defamation League’s deletion of its Glossary of Extremism following pressure over its entry on Turning Point USA. Also in today’s Daily Kickoff: Rep. Greg Landsman, Brad Parscale and David Zini.
Ed. note: In observance of Yom Kippur, the next Daily Kickoff will arrive on Monday, Oct. 6.Today’s Daily Kickoff was curated by Jewish Insider Executive Editor Melissa Weiss, with an assist from Danielle Cohen-Kanik. Have a tip? Email us here.
What We’re Watching
- Hamas’ response to President Donald Trump’s 20-point peace proposal could come as soon as today, following Trump’s comments on Tuesday in which he said he was giving the terror group “three or four days” to respond to the proposal, threatening a “sad end” if it rejected the plan.
- We’re also keeping an eye on the Global Sumud Flotilla to Gaza as it nears Israeli maritime space. Last night, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, citing the delicate diplomatic situation following Trump’s proposal to end the war, called on the flotilla’s organizers to “stop now and accept one of the various proposals put forward for the safe delivery of the aid.”
- As the second anniversary of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks nears, Jewish organizations around the world will begin hosting memorials and ceremonies to mark the day. Read more in eJewishPhilanthropy about efforts to commemorate the anniversary of the attacks.
- In New York on Sunday, the Museum of Jewish Heritage – A Living Memorial to the Holocaust is opening “Lessons from The Tree of Life: Lighting the Path Forward,” a traveling exhibition from Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life ahead of the seventh anniversary of the deadly synagogue attack.
- Also Sunday, Democratic Jewish Outreach Pennsylvania is holding its annual Defender of Democracy Event. This year’s event, which will include an appearance by Gov. Josh Shapiro, will honor Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker.
What You Should Know
A QUICK WORD WITH JI’s Josh kraushaar
Zohran Mamdani isn’t the only far-left, anti-Israel candidate running for mayor in a city with a notable Jewish constituency in November. As we’ve noted in these pages, socialist Katie Wilson is vying to unseat Mayor Bruce Harrell in the Seattle mayoral race. (More below on that race.) And far-left challenger Omar Fateh is running competitively against Mayor Jacob Frey in a closely watched Minneapolis mayoral contest.
But one lower-profile race featuring a Democratic Socialists of America activist with involvement in anti-Israel groups has flown under the radar. In the progressive city of Somerville, Mass. — just outside Boston and bordering Cambridge — City Councilor Willie Burnley Jr. advanced to a runoff against another city council member, Jake Wilson.
In the city’s first round of balloting, which ousted the city’s sitting mayor, Katjana Ballantyne, Wilson finished first with 42% of the citywide vote, but Burnley wasn’t far behind with 34%. Ballantyne, facing a backlash to the city’s rising housing costs, lagged in third place with just 23% of the vote.
If Burnley prevails, he would be the city’s first Black, openly queer and polyamorous mayor, according to Axios.
But Burnley’s unconventional self-identification pales in comparison to his radical record. He’s been endorsed by the Democratic Socialists of America, and has been active in the organization for at least the last several years. He has participated in anti-Israel protests, including one where he is standing in front of a protester holding a sign with a Nazi swastika flag next to an Israeli flag. At a Tufts University anti-Israel protest last year, he posed in front of posters reading “Glory to the martyrs.”
He has touted his endorsement from the anti-Israel group “Somerville for Palestine” and walked out on a Jewish constituent objecting to the city council’s consideration of a measure that would require Somerville to divest city funds business from companies that do business with Israel. In 2018, he was pictured being involved with the anti-Israel group IfNotNow.
SEATTLE SPOTLIGHT
Seattle Jewish leaders express concern with mayoral front-runner Katie Wilson’s Mamdani-esque views
As progressives have gained traction in local races across the country, Katie Wilson, a self-described socialist now mounting a formidable bid for mayor of Seattle, has increasingly drawn comparisons to Zohran Mamdani, the far-left Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City whose primary upset in June stunned the national political establishment, Jewish Insider’s Matthew Kassel reports.
Track record: While Wilson’s record of commentary on Israel and the war in Gaza is far more limited than Mamdani’s, who has long been an outspoken critic of the Jewish state, many Jewish leaders in Seattle are expressing concern over her statements about the conflict amid what they describe as a lack of outreach from her campaign with just five weeks until the election. In a handful of recent remarks, Wilson has accused Israel of genocide in Gaza — a characterization that Jewish leaders and community activists have found troubling as voter sympathy for the Jewish state, especially in the progressive Seattle area, has sharply declined. Meanwhile, Wilson has suggested that she is “open to divestment” if Seattle “has investments that are indirectly supporting Israel’s actions,” according to an email response to a person who asked about her stances on Israel that was posted to social media in July.
St. Louis Showdown
Ousted anti-Israel lawmaker planning comeback campaign in Missouri
Former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), one of the most virulently anti-Israel members of Congress during her tenure in Washington, is expected to launch a rematch against Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO), who defeated her in 2024, according to political observers in St. Louis, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports. Bell, who garnered substantial support from the Jewish community locally and pro-Israel groups nationally, has remained a strong supporter of Israel in office, even amid criticism from local progressive activists.
The Lou-down: Braxton Payne, a St. Louis-based political strategist, said that this cycle, when Bell is still a freshman, would be Bush’s best chance of ousting the incumbent and reclaiming her seat. “Her strongest place is inside the city [of St. Louis] and you’re seeing… a strong pendulum swinging in regards to the conflict in Gaza and Palestine, and I think that is going to be probably one of her main narratives that she’ll lead with,” Payne told JI. “Among some of the progressive votes, especially among her base in St. Louis City, I think she’s going to do fairly well with those people.” But one of Bush’s biggest vulnerabilities, he continued, is that she failed, once in office, to engage with or show up for major local groups and organized labor.
prairie state politics
Wave of anti-Israel candidates hits Chicago’s Democratic congressional primaries
With numerous incumbent House members retiring or seeking higher office, the 2026 election will bring four open seats to the deep-blue Chicago area — a level of turnover unprecedented in recent history — each of which is being hotly contested by a series of diverse candidates. And in each of the districts — the 2nd, 7th, 8th and 9th — at least one viable candidate is staking out positions strongly critical of Israel, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports.
Breaking it down: In the 2nd District, anti-Israel state Sen. Robert Peters, who converted to Judaism, has been critical of Israel’s operations in Gaza and joined at least one anti-Israel protest affiliated with the far-left Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. In the 7th District, Justice Democrats-affiliated Kina Collins, who has been opposed in past races by the AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project super PAC, is expected to make a third bid for the seat, after two primary challenges to retiring Rep. Danny Davis (D-IL). In the 8th District, Yasmin Bankole, a Hanover Park trustee, is vowing to co-sponsor the “Block the Bombs Act” and has accused the Trump administration of being complicit in potential ethnic cleansing, while Junaid Ahmed lists “Peace in Gaza and Palestinian self-determination” as a top campaign priority and describes the war in Gaza as a genocide. In the 9th District, prominent candidates Evanston Mayor Daniel Biss and influencer Kat Abughazaleh have both been vocally critical of Israel.
HITTING THE ROAD
GM philanthropy head with history of anti-Israel tweets exits role
Sirene Abou-Chakra, the head of General Motors’ global philanthropy division with a history of posting anti-Israel messages on her public X account, is no longer in her role, a GM spokesperson confirmed to Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs. The spokesperson did not say if Abou-Chakra, who previously served as the chief development officer for the city of Detroit and also spent a decade with Google as an account executive, was fired or had left on her own accord.
Toxic tweets: Abou-Chakra, a native of Dearborn, Mich., took over the auto company’s mammoth philanthropy arm in June amid questions about how her extensive anti-Israel social media history would impact GM’s relationship with the Detroit-area Jewish community and its extensive business relationships with the Jewish state. From late 2019 through the summer of 2024, Abou-Chakra posted a series of tweets that were critical of the Jewish state and Republicans, accusing Israel of being “built on lies,” alleging the country “is not a democracy” and claiming the pro-Hamas protests in Washington during Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s speech to a joint session of Congress last July were “planted” by pro-Israel actors.
scoop
ADL deletes Glossary of Extremism under pressure from conservatives
Under pressure from Elon Musk, Donald Trump Jr. and prominent right-wing activists in the wake of the assassination of Charlie Kirk, the Anti-Defamation League is removing from its website the Glossary of Extremism and Hate, one of the organization’s signature anti-hate resources, Jewish Insider’s Emily Jacobs and Gabby Deutch report.
Scrubbing the site: The database identifies over 1,000 terms relating to extremist ideologies and groups, and it has faced scrutiny in recent days after viral social media posts revealed that the Glossary of Extremism included an entry about the slain Turning Point USA founder and his organization. An ADL spokesperson confirmed to JI that the organization removed the glossary entirely and that it does not consider TPUSA an “extremist group.” The glossary no longer appears on the ADL website. The ADL’s webpage about Kirk, which remains active, still says that Kirk “created a vast platform that was used by numerous extremists and far-right conspiracy theorists. A number of such individuals speak and attend his annual AmericaFest and other events sponsored by TPUSA.”
Reality check: Earlier this week, Musk and several prominent right-wing influencers falsely accused the ADL of attacking Christianity by misrepresenting the organization’s classification of the antisemitic Christian Identity movement as an extremist group, JI’s Emily Jacobs reports. The controversy, fueled by a partial, out-of-context screenshot of the ADL’s website, gained traction on X and other social media platforms.
Exclusive
Hollywood’s anti-Israel boycott against the law, according to Jewish civil rights group
The current boycott by Hollywood actors, directors and other industry workers against Israeli counterparts “violates federal and state civil rights laws,” according to a letter distributed on Wednesday by the Louis D. Brandeis Center for Human Rights Under Law to major U.S. film industry leaders, Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen has learned.
Legal liability: The letter was sent to top studios, distributors, platforms, talent agencies and film festivals — including Walt Disney Studios, Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, Universal Pictures, Sony Pictures, Lionsgate, Netflix, Amazon, MGM Studios and Apple Studios. It warns that participation in the “Hollywood Blacklist,” a boycott circulated last month by Film Workers for Palestine that calls for industry professionals to blacklist Israeli artists, companies and institutions, could result in legal consequences. Boycotting Israeli institutions would also jeopardize studios’ eligibility for film tax credit status, the letter said, noting that “a production that participates in the Hollywood Boycott may also violate its contractual obligations in connection with receiving state tax breaks.”
Worthy Reads
Rubik’s Cube of Diplomacy: The New York Times’ Tom Friedman posits that President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war in Gaza could fundamentally reshape the region for the better. “In a lifetime of covering this conflict, I have never seen it broken into so many little pieces, each soaked in more distrust and hatred of the other than ever before. Aggregating these pieces together to implement this complex plan for a cease-fire, phased Israeli withdrawal from Gaza, hostage release, Palestinian prisoner release and then rebuilding of the Strip under international supervision will be a herculean task. It will require solving a diplomatic Rubik’s Cube every day — while all the enemies of the deal try to scramble it every day. … If, if, if this Trump peace plan can create a bridge back to a two-state solution, it will give enormous leeway for Saudi Arabia, Lebanon, Syria and even Iraq to consider joining the Abraham Accords and normalize relations with Israel.” [NYTimes]
Qatar’s New Calculus: In The Wall Street Journal, Amit Segal considers why Qatar is now applying pressure on Hamas to accept the proposed deal to end the war. “The regime, which thwarted the last hostage deal, changed its mind because the war has reached its home. After the Israel Defense Forces operated in five Muslim capitals — Gaza, Beirut, Damascus, Sana’a, and Tehran — it hit Doha. The attempted killing of senior Hamas officials in broad daylight in Qatar signaled to the natural-gas emirate that it couldn’t continue the double game it has played in recent years. Despite the threats against Israel, the Qataris are now working to make Hamas accept the demands from Jerusalem. Qatar had until recently defended Hamas’s efforts to remain in power and its demands for a full Israeli withdrawal in exchange for releasing the hostages. Now, Doha is among those threatening Hamas with destruction if it won’t accept a deal. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s telephone apology for violating Qatar’s sovereignty is lip service to divert attention from the emirate’s turnaround.” [WSJ]
The New Neo-Nazis: In his Substack “The Reset,” Yashar Ali reflects on the surge in antisemitism he has observed online since the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas terror attacks. “Over the past two years I have tracked a stunning but not surprising shift: the ranks of Neo-Nazis and outright Jew haters were growing rapidly and becoming very diverse in a way that has not ever been seen in American history (including in the 1920s–30s). To be clear, I am not talking about the blanket antisemitism label that conflates various types of antisemitism and the mislabeling of criticism of the Israeli government and military as antisemitism. I am talking about unquestionable hatred of global Jewry and the embracing of some of the most dangerous and oldest conspiracies about Jews. The point is that I was seeing groups of people, by age, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status, who traditionally would never have been attracted to Neo-Nazi ideology, suddenly becoming radicalized, believing in it, and becoming dedicated to the cause.” [TheReset]
Word on the Street
The University of Maryland Student Government Association is set to consider a resolution at the start of Yom Kippur on Wednesday evening calling on the university and its charitable foundation to implement a boycott of companies and academic institutions with ties to “Israel’s regime of apartheid and occupation,” Jewish Insider’s Haley Cohen reports…
Rep. Greg Landsman (D-OH), speaking in a webinar with Democratic Majority for Israel on Tuesday, emphasized that colleagues who push to block aid to Israel or recognize a Palestinian state risk emboldening Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran when they are on their back foot, Jewish Insider’s Marc Rod reports…
President Donald Trump told reporters that the administration is close to reaching a deal with Harvard after a monthslong deadlock and legal battle that will see the university pay around $500 million to open and operate trade schools; “They’re going to be teaching people how to do AI and lots of other things,” Trump said at an executive order signing…
The Equal Employment Opportunity Organization sued Apple on behalf of a Jewish employee in the company’s Reston, Va., location who said his manager made antisemitic remarks and refused his request not to be scheduled to work on Shabbat…
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) and 18 other House progressives wrote to Secretary of State Marco Rubio accusing Israel of genocide and demanding that the U.S. protect the Global Sumud Flotilla attempting to breach the Israeli maritime blockade of Gaza…
A federal judge in Boston ruled that the Trump administration’s effort to deport international students who participated in anti-Israel campus activity was unconstitutional…
Following a court ruling, the Trump administration restored hundreds of grants from the National Institutes of Health that it had suspended from the University of California, Los Angeles over the summmer…
The Department of Justice opened an investigation into the University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ response to campus antisemitism…
Former Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale filed paperwork under the Foreign Agent Registration Act registering his work with Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs; Parscale’s work through his Clock Tower X LLC is expected to focus on digital outreach to younger Americans…
Singer Cat Stevens, who changed his name to Yusuf Islam in 1978, postponed an upcoming book tour in North America, citing visa issues; Stevens, who has expressed support for Hamas, has previously backed a fatwa issued by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei against writer Salman Rushie…
A new survey from the Council for a Secure America found high levels of support for the U.S.-Israel relationship among Israeli respondents…
Israel’s Cabinet unanimously approved David Zini as the new head of the Shin Bet, effective Oct. 5…
The family of Rabbi Dr. Mordechai “Mark” Steintzag, who was killed in a terror attack in Jerusalem last month, is working to complete the writing of a Torah scroll he commissioned before his death, eJewishPhilanthropy’s Judah Ari Gross reports…
The Associated Press reports on the sexual exploitation of Palestinian women in Gaza by aid workers affiliated with the U.N. Relief and Works Agency and other international groups…
A new survey found that 15% of Italians consider physical attacks on Jews to be “entirely or fairly justifiable,” while 18% said that antisemitic graffiti was legitimate…
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies is launching its Program on Energy and National Security; the new program will be led by Rich Goldberg, a senior advisor at FDD and former senior counselor on the White House National Energy Dominance Council…
Pic of the Day
Families of hostages with German citizenship who are still being held in Gaza met on Tuesday with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin. The families pressed Merz to leverage Germany’s relationship with Turkey to influence Hamas into accepting President Donald Trump’s proposal to end the war.
Birthdays
Reality television personality, model and actress, Cynthia Dawn “Cindy” Margolis turns 60…
U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Wisconsin, Lynn Steven Adelman turns 86… MLB second baseman who appeared in 18 straight All-Star Games, he is immortalized as Jewish in Adam Sandler’s Chanukah Song, Rod Carew turns 80… Senior judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit, Andrew David Hurwitz turns 78… Professor at the Technion, he won the 2004 Nobel Prize in chemistry, Aaron Ciechanover turns 78… Tony Award-winning writer and lyricist for the musical theater, television and film, Lynn Ahrens turns 77… Former co-owner of the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks and co-founder of the publicly traded TechTarget, Bruce Levenson turns 76… Professor emeritus of Jewish History at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Israel Jacob Yuval turns 76… Copy editor at Politico since 2009, Andrew Goodwin… Film, stage and television actress and, since 2009, an ordained Jewish cantor, Lorna Patterson turns 69… Israel’s ambassador to the United States, a native of Scranton, Pa., Yechiel “Michael” Leiter turns 66… The first-ever Jewish chief justice of the Washington State Supreme Court, Steven C. González turns 62… Member of the Aspen City Council from 2011-2019, Adam Bennett Frisch turns 58… Retired in 2024 after 16 years as director of philanthropic partnerships at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Robert A. Rosen… Film director, screenwriter and producer, Stacie Passon turns 56… Partner at FGS Global, specializing in telecommunications, technology, consumer protection and privacy for companies in regulated industries, Robert Bennett Seidman… Former law clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, now a nominee for a judgeship on the 7th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, Rebecca L. Taibleson turns 42… Director of investor relations and strategic engagement at FDD, Samantha J. (Greenberg) Weinberg… Chief policy officer at the Israel Policy Forum, Michael Koplow… Former consultant at Deloitte focused on critical infrastructure risk, now an MBA candidate at Georgetown, Samuel Koralnik… Account manager at Fiserv, Yossi Raskas… Scott Rosenthal…
Former Rep. Cori Bush, one of the most extreme critics of Israel, is planning to run against Rep. Wesley Bell for a second time
Celal Gunes/Anadolu via Getty Images
Rep. Cori Bush at a press conference in front of the U.S. Capitol to call for a ceasefire in Gaza on November 13, 2023.
Former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), one of the most virulently anti-Israel members of Congress during her tenure in Washington, is expected to launch a rematch against Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO), who defeated her in 2024, according to political observers in St. Louis.
Local Jewish leaders expect the primary campaign to be a bitter repeat of the 2024 campaign, which focused heavily on Israel. Bell, who garnered substantial support from the Jewish community locally and pro-Israel groups nationally, has remained a strong supporter of Israel in office, even amid criticism from local progressive activists.
Braxton Payne, a St. Louis-based political strategist, described Bush’s intentions as “the worst-kept secret” and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported she may launch as early as this week, citing sources close to her campaign.
Payne said that this cycle, when Bell is still a freshman, would be Bush’s best chance of ousting Bell and reclaiming her seat.
“Her strongest place is inside the city [of St. Louis] and you’re seeing… a strong pendulum swinging in regards to the conflict in Gaza and Palestine, and I think that is going to be probably one of her main narratives that she’ll lead with,” Payne told Jewish Insider. “Among some of the progressive votes, especially among her base in St. Louis City, I think she’s going to do fairly well with those people.”
But one of Bush’s biggest vulnerabilities, he continued, is that she failed, once in office, to engage with or show up for major local groups and organized labor.
“That still seems to be the case. … And Wesley has made a conscious effort to do so, not only with organized labor that may have backed him, but people and organizations that did not back him,” Payne continued, “which I think is obviously important to currying favor among voters — and obviously large groups that have power, influence and, of course, money.”
Payne said that the race is likely to be close, and that there will likely be similar interest in the race from outside groups, like AIPAC, that invested heavily in 2024. Primary turnout could be impacted by other referenda on the ballot, which could fuel Democratic primary turnout.
Missouri recently redrew its congressional maps and, while Bell’s district was not changed significantly, the redrawn map includes a few additional precincts that may be more favorable to Bell, according to Payne, though the impacts will likely be minor. The maps also face various legal challenges.
Bush’s campaign is also $13,000 in debt, and she’ll need significant grassroots support and/or backing from a group like Justice Democrats to fill her coffers, Payne noted.
Her husband is facing a federal indictment for COVID relief aid fraud, a controversy Payne said has garnered public attention. Bush herself faced House Ethics Committee and Department of Justice investigations during her time in office.
At the same time, Payne noted, the strategy for groups backing Bell, including organized labor and AIPAC, is unknown. If AIPAC gets involved in the race, “even if they spend a bunch of money, does that actually end up hurting him with voters more than it does helping him?”
Bell’s supporters are signaling that they’re ready for a fight.
“Cori Bush spent her scandal-ridden time in Washington looking out for herself, while hiding from her constituents and ignoring their needs,” a Democratic strategist familiar with the Bell campaign’s thinking said. “As a result, Missouri voters kicked her out of office, and elected Wesley Bell, who promised to deliver better and more accountable representation. St. Louis is better off with a congressman who is focused every day on delivering for them, than someone who is more interested in furthering her personal agenda.”
Jewish leaders who supported Bell’s campaign also say that they are preparing for the campaign ahead, and a retread of the ugly 2024 race.
“The mainstream Jewish community is very much united in supporting Wesley Bell, and obviously not supporting Cori Bush for all of the same reasons we were not going to support her last time,” Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham, who helped organize a coalition of rabbis to oppose Bush in the previous campaign, told Jewish Insider. “The Jewish community, I’m confident, is going to rally again to support Wesley and hopefully make sure that he wins.”
He said he’s hopeful that leaders who did not get involved in the previous race might get involved to back Bell this time. “Jewish community leaders are ready to jump back in however we’re needed.”
Stacey Newman, a former state lawmaker who led Jewish outreach on Bell’s campaign team, agreed that the “mainstream Jewish community has remained organized and united” — in addition to feeling the impacts of antisemitism hit home in a recent firebombing incident.
“We won’t have to start from scratch,” Newman continued. “We still have 30-plus rabbis willing to go to work. I know the Orthodox community who typically do not vote Democrat are very thankful for Wesley’s leadership. He’s one of the few Democrats in St. Louis who are willing to support our community publicly.”
Former Rep. Cori Bush or a political ally could attempt to unseat the first-term congressman
Michael B. Thomas for The Washington Post via Getty Images
St. Louis County prosecutor and congressional candidate Wesley Bell speaks during a campaign stop at a Ward meeting held at the American Czech Center in St. Louis, Missouri on July 11, 2024.
A town hall organized by Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) last week in St. Louis turned contentious as a large group of demonstrators turned out to heckle the freshman congressman — fresh off a trip to Israel — over his support for the Jewish state. A scuffle later broke out between security guards and some of the demonstrators.
The situation highlights the ongoing antagonism from local far-left activists against Bell, which could foreshadow a primary challenge to the congressman from former Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), whom Bell unseated, or one of her political allies.
Bell, during the 90-minute town hall, pushed back on accusations from demonstrators that Israel is committing genocide, emphasizing that “Israel was attacked by an openly genocidal terrorist group,” while calling for Hamas’ defeat, the release of hostages, the end of the war and ensuring food aid in Gaza.
Demonstrators shouted as Bell sought to address the crowd, disrupting the event repeatedly and accusing Bell of supporting the killing of children, among a variety of other offenses. Some Bell supporters in the audience — whom local reports described as about half of the crowd — also at times exchanged heated words with the congressman’s critics.
“There’s a lot of folks who don’t want to have the conversation,” Bell said during the event. “They just want to spew what they think is important, but they don’t want to have an actual debate because these are tough issues. So, now we’re going to have the conversation — whether you like it or not.”
Bell told local news channel KSDK that he had expected even more disruptions and that he was willing to meet with critics.
“Congressman Bell came prepared to answer questions, including tough ones, about the issues on the minds of his constituents — from standing up to Trump to helping tornado victims rebuild,” a Bell spokesperson told Jewish Insider. “Even with the disruptions, he made sure to respond to as many questions as possible, and he’s continuing to follow up with those he didn’t reach. That’s the work he’s committed to doing every day.”
Braxton Payne, a St. Louis-based Democratic strategist, told JI he recognized some of the individuals involved in the demonstrations as longtime backers of Bush. He said that the political coalitions supporting and opposing Bell in 2024 have remained largely unchanged since Bell took office.
“You’re still seeing the same bases, cohorts of support” as in the 2024 race, Payne said. “I do think there is a sentiment for someone to run against [Bell] in a primary” with support from the “de-facto Cori Bush base.”
He predicted that the 2026 primary election will see higher-than-average turnout among suburban St. Louis County voters — a development likely to help Bell, who in 2024 won St. Louis County but not the city of St. Louis — given other open seats likely to be on the ballot.
Payne said that a mid-decade redistricting effort by Missouri Republicans is expected to largely leave St. Louis-area congressional seats untouched, if it succeeds. But if the redraw brings more of St. Louis County into Bell’s district, that would also likely help boost his support base.
Bush has publicly kept open the possibility of another run for Congress, saying in June that she wouldn’t provide a timeline for when she would decide whether to run again. Bush recently founded a national PAC, Politivist Action.
Payne said that Bush’s husband’s legal troubles — he was charged with defrauding federal pandemic relief programs — could play into her decision on whether to run again. He added that she has been less present at local political events since leaving office than she was before she became a member of Congress.
Bush did not respond to a request for comment about her plans.
Asked by KSDK about the possibility of a rematch with Bush, Bell said that he wouldn’t address the hypothetical question, but that he is working to support and represent his district daily.
Megan Green, the president of the St. Louis Board of Aldermen, is also rumored to be interested in the seat, local observers said, but said in an email to JI that she is “not running.” Green is a Bush ally who recently accused Israel of genocide and has claimed that AIPAC exercises malicious influence over the Democratic Party.
Bell’s campaign appears to be gearing up early for the possibility of a competitive primary — he has raised nearly $700,000 thus far this cycle.
Stacey Newman, the executive director of the Missouri Alliance Network and a former Democratic state lawmaker who led Jewish outreach for Bell’s 2024 campaign, told JI that Bell’s supporters in the Jewish community expect that the congressman will face a primary challenge, but that it’s not entirely clear yet from whom.
Newman said that, given some of the names floated as potential challengers to Bell, the race would likely rehash the same issues of the 2024 campaign, which included a heavy focus on Israel policy.
Newman said that the unruly town hall had further contributed to unease and fear in the St. Louis-area Jewish community about the community’s safety, in the wake of the firebombing of cars in a residential neighborhood targeting a Jewish family whose son served in the IDF. No suspects have been announced or arrested in the case, which is being investigated as an antisemitic hate crime, and local Jewish groups are offering a $30,000 reward.
The events at the town hall follow a series of other aggressive anti-Israel demonstrations in the area, she noted.
“The Jewish community is on edge in terms of our safety,” Newman said.
Bush’s campaign was ultimately sunk by her votes on key issues like infrastructure, her breaks with the Biden administration and failures to show up in her community
Robert Cohen/St. Louis Post-Dispatch via AP
Wesley Bell addresses the crowd after winning the Democratic congressional primary against incumbent U.S. Rep. Cori Bush on Tuesday, Aug. 6, 2024 at the Marriott Grand Hotel in downtown St. Louis.
When Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) offered her concession speech on Tuesday night after losing the Democratic primary to St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell, she unleashed a tirade against the powerful pro-Israel lobby, which spent millions to defeat her.
Her loss, the Squad member said, “takes some strings off,” and she vowed, “AIPAC, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down.”
Yet interviews with a number of St. Louis-area strategists watching the race reveal that one of its central narratives — that heavy spending by national pro-Israel groups like AIPAC and Democratic Majority for Israel fueled Bush’s loss — is only one part of a complex picture that explains Bush’s political downfall. In fact, local issues, rather than her strident criticisms of Israel, may have played a more important role and gave pro-Israel groups an opening, they say.
Bush ultimately lost her seat because she fell out of step with her district on a range of key issues — including the bipartisan infrastructure bill and support for defunding police, while failing to provide adequate constituent service in her home district, according to strategists.
The AIPAC-affiliated United Democracy Project spent more than $8.5 million in the race, while Democratic Majority for Israel spent more than $500,000. But those watching the race say those attack ads wouldn’t have been effective without Bush’s myriad political vulnerabilities, most of them unrelated to her views on Israel.
Braxton Payne, a Democratic strategist in St. Louis, who did not work for either side, said anti-Bush messaging in the district focused not on her views on Israel but on vulnerabilities including missing votes, voting against the bipartisan infrastructure bill and child tax credit and otherwise breaking with the Biden administration.
Those knocks on Bush all featured prominently in the UDP messaging campaign in the district. Anjan Mukherjee, a spokesperson for Bell, said they were also among the campaign’s key priorities.
“When she ran four years ago, one of the main things that she had talked about was serving St. Louis, and I heard from a lot of voters that there wasn’t great outreach,” Payne added. “A lot of them said that they didn’t see her come back to the district a lot — so that being a narrative especially among older voters, that I heard a lot.”
Payne said Bush had been holding fewer town halls for constituents and failing to show up for ward meetings as she did when she was first running for office.
Some in the district also saw Bush as a “ladder climber” who had failed to keep her focus on the district, focusing instead on creating a national profile, Payne said.
Payne added that the district, especially older Black voters, remains loyal to the Democratic establishment and took umbrage with Bush’s breaks with President Joe Biden. The district includes both the city of St. Louis and the surrounding St. Louis County.
Bush’s votes against the infrastructure bill lost her the support of some of the city’s key unions in the construction trade, which backed Bell. Those endorsements, which Bush’s 2022 challenger didn’t have, gave Bell “more credibility among a lot of traditional Democratic voters,” Payne said, and created a permission structure to break with Bush.
Darius Jones, the founder of the National Black Empowerment Action Fund, which sought to highlight Bush’s record to the Black community, said that polling found that public safety, jobs, the economy and cost of living were key issues that led Black voters to be “disenchanted” with Bush. Jones is also a former AIPAC staffer.
Jones said polling and canvassing showed Bush’s positions in favor of defunding the police and legalizing drugs hurt her support in the district, as did her vote against the infrastructure bill and other Biden-backed legislation and her opposition to government contracts for Boeing, which has a manufacturing facility in the city.
Jones said that Bush’s focus on “doing things to kind of advance [her] own persona” and “divisive” activist posture also hurt her among Black voters, based on polling.
Payne said Bell is well-known, especially in the St. Louis County portion of the district, having won two elections for county prosecutor, representing an early vanguard of the progressive movement.
“He was the original progressive in this area that took on a more traditional Democrat in a time where there wasn’t a Squad … and he won with little to no money,” said Payne, who worked for the campaign of the incumbent prosecutor Bell unseated.
“He became very popular with the progressive groups, so Cori Bush trying to hit him [as] a Republican or wolf in sheep’s clothing … didn’t resonate with a lot of Democratic and progressive voters and older Democrats” who had been familiar with Bell for years, he explained.
Payne said polling showed that Bell’s favorability remained consistent throughout the campaign, indicating that Bush’s hits on Bell — including attacking him for receiving backing from AIPAC — didn’t land.
Jon Reinish, a Democratic strategist who worked with several groups active in St. Louis, said that polling in the district reflected that Bush’s anti-AIPAC messaging and failure to focus on local issues weren’t effective, particularly among Black voters.
Payne said Bush might have “moved the needle a little bit” if she had deployed earlier an ad showing the father of Michael Brown, who was killed by police in Ferguson, Mo., criticizing Bell. But Payne wasn’t sure it would have been enough to save her.
Payne theorized that Bush’s funding challenges — she was putting hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of campaign funds toward legal bills in an ongoing federal investigation, held her back from a more aggressive advertising effort. But he said that the scandal itself, that Bush paid her now-husband as a security guard using campaign funds, didn’t feature prominently in the race.
Payne said that younger white progressives in St. Louis city are likely to be among Bush’s strongest voting blocs, but turnout in the city was down 10% from 2020, indicating that Bush’s base wasn’t energized to keep her in Congress.
Mukherjee said that Bell had outperformed the campaign’s expectations in the city, adding that the campaign had detected a surge in momentum in his favor in the final weeks of the race.
While ward-level results aren’t public yet, Bell’s success in St. Louis County suggests strength among older Black voters, as well as the Jewish population concentrated in that area of the district, Payne added.
The “constant bombardment” of ads by UDP and other groups in the district undeniably helped Bell, Payne added, pointing to his surge in head-to-head polls from well behind Bush, Payne said.
But Reinish argued that Bush “did this to herself … Cori Bush would not have been vulnerable had she not been so far out of the mainstream, both as a messenger and as a legislator.”
Stacey Newman, a former Democratic state lawmaker who ran Jewish outreach for Bell’s campaign, told JI that she had been a Bush supporter, but that her rhetoric after Oct. 7 was a breaking point. Newman said she was contacted shortly after the Hamas attack by a group of St. Louis politicos — many non-Jewish — about an effort to recruit a challenger to Bush over concerns about her overall record and stances.
She said that the group had discussions with another candidate who had been considering a run, but ultimately declined to do so, and settled on Bell as the strongest challenger.
They had begun to plan outreach efforts to Bell when Bell preempted them, independently deciding to drop his bid for Missouri’s Senate seat and run for Bush’s House seat instead. She said she’s not aware of any other recruitment efforts that were launched against Bush.
“[Bell] says there are several reasons why he jumped in, but I know in my heart that Oct. 7 was a prime reason for him,” Newman said.
Payne said, to his knowledge, Bell made the jump from Missouri’s Senate race into the House race because he realized he didn’t have a shot at winning the Democratic primary against Lucas Kunce.
“But he also saw a pathway in better representing St. Louis,” Payne said.
Mark Mellman, the chairman of Democratic Majority for Israel’s political arm, DMFI PAC, told JI that he recognized the primary would be difficult from the start. The group commissioned polling in January that showed Bell trailing Bush by 16 points, a deficit he recalled as “off-putting to some people we talked to.”
“But we saw the vulnerability there beneath the surface,” he stressed. “There was no question that it was tougher than the Bowman-Latimer race, but it was possible,” he said of the primary in New York’s 16th Congressional District that saw Westchester County Executive George Latimer defeating Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY).
Parallels have been drawn between the two races, including both candidates’ rejections of the infrastructure package and alleged weaknesses in engaging with their districts, in addition to massive pro-Israel spending and strong local Jewish engagement.
In the closing weeks of the race, DMFI PAC released its final poll, with Bell leading Bush by six points — a margin commensurate with the result on Tuesday night.
“What we saw initially was that Bush was actually a pretty popular person personally,” Mellman told JI. But voters, he said, had “serious doubts about her job performance.”
Bell, on the other hand, “was fairly well-known” in the district, Mellman said. But voters weren’t familiar with his policy initiatives as a local elected official, including a program to divert low-level offenders from incarceration that was among the issues DMFI PAC highlighted in positive ads to define the county prosecutor as a “progressive fighter.”
Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for UDP, attributed the group’s success, in part, to the barrage of ads it ran on what he described as “the issues voters most cared about.” He cited polling that showed economic issues were particularly “important” in the district, noting that Bush’s vote in 2021 against a bipartisan infrastructure bill “was a top issue that helped determine the race.”
“What else became clear was that Bush had lost a lot of local support,” Dorton said, adding that her constituents “cared that she didn’t show up for a ton of votes and had never passed a bill into law.”
Dorton said it was “not true” that UDP had targeted Bush because she called for a cease-fire in Gaza, as some of her allies have suggested. Instead, the group “focused on” Bush because of what he called her “atrocious” record on Israel, pointing to her vote against Iron Dome funding as well as a House resolution condemning Hamas, which she recently declined to call a terrorist group.
Bush, he argued, had “one of the worst anti-Israel records in Congress.”
Bell’s campaign also ran an aggressive outreach campaign to Jewish voters, which was supplemented by nonpartisan voter turnout operations from local nonpartisan groups, St. Louis Together — which said Jewish turnout hit “historic” levels — and St. Louis Votes, as well as Agudath Israel of America.
Newman said that antisemitic hatred directed at the campaign “ballooned” in recent weeks, including frequent and aggressive protests outside the campaign office and vandalized yard signs. She thinks that that helped motivate Jewish voters to turn out for Bell.
“I think particularly volunteers and people were seeing that … they were feeling it,” Newman said. She also linked concerns back to anti-Israel protests at St. Louis’ Washington University earlier this year, blocks from the campaign office
Newman said that the Bell campaign had also brought the St. Louis Jewish community together, across partisan and denominational lines, in a way she’s never seen before.
Benjamin Singer, CEO of St. Louis Together, said the group and St. Louis Votes harnessed volunteers’ personal social networks, contact lists from synagogues and the Jewish Community Relations Council to help bring Jewish voters to the polls and provide information about early voting.
He said they aimed to “replicate” a nonpartisan Jewish turnout effort in New York’s 16th District that brought Jewish voters to the polls with the message that “antisemitism is on the ballot.”
“I think our community needs to be proud and loud and show up,” Singer said. “Our community, every community, deserves to be heard.”
Bush’s concession speech on Tuesday night, with its threat against AIPAC, will likely only further fuel fears in the Jewish community. As of early Wednesday evening, Bush had yet to call Bell to offer her concession directly, Mukherjee added.
White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre condemned Bush’s comments.
“It is important that we be very mindful of what we say. This kind of rhetoric is inflammatory and divisive and incredibly unhelpful,” she said. “We’re going to continue to condemn any type of political rhetoric in that way, in that vein, and so it is important to be mindful in what we say and how we say it. But we cannot have this type of inflammatory, divisive language in our political discourse. Not now, not ever.”
Bell said in an interview that Bush’s comments are “disappointing … at this point it’s time for us to all work together if the vibrancy and success of this region is the priority.”
Payne said Bush’s comments suggesting that she’d been held back by “strings” before but was now free to unleash her full opinions were “very interesting” because he’s never known her or other committed activists to restrain their full views. “What she said last night was kind of jarring to me. Who’s advising you not to do things and what are you going to do next?”
Newman, Bell’s Jewish outreach director and a former state lawmaker, said she’s been concerned about her safety during the campaign — something she said she’d never experienced before — and even needed to call police when she was alone at the campaign office on one occasion. Newman said that Bush’s closing speech perpetuated those fears.
In a video released by AIPAC, Bell thanked the pro-Israel group for its support and vowed that he’d continue to be an ally.
“We’re not getting across the finish line without all of you,” Bell said. “We know how important it is to stand with our Jewish brothers and sisters, to stand with Israel, and as the Democratic nominee … I want you to know that you will always have an ally with me.”
Jewish Insider’s features reporter Matthew Kassel contributed reporting.
Bell, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, won the race by a comfortable five-point margin over Bush, 51-46%
Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images
Congressional candidate Wesley Bell arrives to vote at the Mid County Branch Library on August 6, 2024 in Clayton, Missouri.
Wesley Bell defeated Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) on Tuesday in a closely watched primary, becoming the second Democratic challenger of the cycle to unseat a Squad-aligned incumbent.
Bell, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, prevailed over Bush, a two-term congresswoman, in an upset that followed Rep. Jamaal Bowman’s (D-NY) loss to Westchester County Executive George Latimer in June.
Bell won the race by a comfortable five-point margin over Bush, 51-46%.
“I am deeply honored and humbled by the trust the people of this district have placed in me,” Bell said in a statement. “This victory belongs to every volunteer, every supporter, and every voter who believes in our vision for a better future.”
Pro-Israel groups invested heavily in the race to boost Bell’s campaign against Bush, whose hostile views toward Israel faced backlash in the district.
The super PAC affiliated with AIPAC, United Democracy Project, was by far the biggest spender, dropping more than $8.5 million into a race that became one of the most expensive elections of the cycle.
“AIPAC congratulates Wesley Bell for his consequential victory over an incumbent anti-Israel detractor,” the group said in a statement. “Once again, a progressive pro-Israel Democrat has prevailed over a candidate who represents the extremist fringe that is hostile to the Jewish state.”
UDP added in a statement that, “Bell’s win tonight, along with George Latimer’s (D) victory over Rep. Jamaal Bowman and John McGuire’s (R) defeat of Rep. Bob Good, is further proof that being pro-Israel is good policy and good politics on both sides of the aisle.”
Mark Mellman, the chairman of Democratic Majority for Israel, which also endorsed Bell, said the results underscored that “being pro-Israel is not just wise policy, but also smart politics.”
“And there’s another valuable lesson in these results — Democrats do not want division or extremism,” Mellman added in a statement.
The local Jewish community was also engaged in the primary, including grassroots efforts to increase voter turnout. Nearly 50% of the district’s Orthodox community, for instance, voted early in the election, according to A.D. Motzen, the national director of government affairs at Agudath Israel of America.
“Just from what I saw during early voting and today, the amount of Jewish voter turnout was incredible,” said Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham of Congregation B’nai Amoona, a Conservative synagogue in the St. Louis area, who supported Bell. “The rallying that took place is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”
“It feels amazing on many levels,” Abraham added, of Bell’s victory. “Most importantly we now have someone representing us who is willing to sit down and listen to us and have a meaningful dialogue on the issues. We also were able to get a blatant antisemite out of Congress.”
Additional reporting contributed by JI’s senior congressional correspondent Marc Rod
Challenger to Rep. Cori Bush opens up six-point lead in new poll
FERGUSON, MO - JUNE 17: St. Louis County Prosecutor, Wesley Bell gives remarks during the Ferguson mayoral inauguration ceremony for Ella James at the Urban League Empowerment Center on June 17, 2020 in Ferguson, Missouri. Ella Jones becomes the city's first African-American Mayor in it's 165-year history. (Photo by Michael B. Thomas/Getty Images)
A new poll commissioned by Democratic Majority for Israel’s political arm suggests that momentum is building for Wesley Bell as he prepares to take on Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) in a hotly contested primary next week.
The poll shows Bell, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis, with a six-point lead over Bush, a prominent Squad-affiliated lawmaker who has faced backlash from Jewish voters over her strident criticism of Israel. Among 400 likely Democratic primary voters surveyed between July 21-24, Bell led Bush, 48-42%, according to a polling memo shared on Monday.
His performance was an improvement over a previous poll released by DMFI PAC and conducted in mid-June, which showed Bell — at 43% — with a one-point lead in the race. Both polls were conducted by the Mellman Group.
Other recent polls have shown Bell strongly positioned to prevail as he seeks to become the second challenger this cycle to unseat a Squad incumbent, replicating Westchester County Executive George Latimer’s victory over Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) in New York last month.
In an echo of that race, the St. Louis primary has quietly become one of the most expensive of the congressional cycle — with a diverse coalition of outside groups spending millions to boost Bell’s campaign. The biggest spender has been AIPAC’s super PAC, which has invested more than $7 million on ads and mailers.
For its part, DMFI PAC, which is also backing Bell, has spent nearly $500,000 in the race. “As voters hear from the candidates,” Mark Mellman, DMFI PAC’s chairman, said in a statement, “Democrats in Missouri’s 1st District are increasingly disillusioned with Bush and attracted to Bell.”
The National Black Empowerment Action Fund surveyed Black voters in the district, and found the anti-Israel congresswoman’s support shaky
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 11: Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) questions witnesses during a roundtable discussion on Supreme Court Ethics conducted by Democrats of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on June 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Court Accountability)
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.
One St. Louis rabbi: ‘I look at Cori Bush and what she has done as being dangerous to the safety of Jews, both here in the States, as well as the safety of Jews in the Jewish state’
WASHINGTON, DC - JUNE 11: Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) questions witnesses during a roundtable discussion on Supreme Court Ethics conducted by Democrats of the House Oversight and Accountability Committee at the Rayburn House Office Building on June 11, 2024 in Washington, DC. (Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Court Accountability)
During her time in office, Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO), who is fighting for her seat in her Aug. 6 primary, has consistently ignored and rejected efforts from members of the mainstream Jewish community to communicate and connect with her and her office, six Jewish leaders supporting her opponent told Jewish Insider.
Bush is fending off a challenge from Wesley Bell, the prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County, who has leaned into support for Israel in his campaign and picked up the backing of national pro-Israel groups.
A group of more than 30 rabbis from the St. Louis area came together in March to write a letter condemning Bush and endorsing Bell, accusing the Missouri congresswoman of antisemitism and of having “continually fanned the flames with the most outrageous smears of Israel, accusing the Jewish state of ‘ethnic cleansing’ and ‘genocide’ as it has fought to defeat the terrorists.”
The letter follows one sent on Nov. 1, signed by local rabbis as well as the leaders of the local chapters of the Anti-Defamation League, American Jewish Committee, J Street, Jewish Community Relations Council, Jewish Community Center, Hillel, National Council of Jewish Women and other Jewish institutions.
That letter condemned Bush for her comments on Israel, accusing her of a “lack of decency, disregard for history, and for intentionally fueling antisemitism and hatred.” Her behavior, the letter charged, “not only fails to advance peace, but it incites anger and the potential of further violence toward the Jewish community.”
Signatories to the March 4 rabbis’ letter supporting Bell described Bush’s response to the Oct. 7 attack as a breaking point in long-simmering frustrations with the incumbent congresswoman dating back to her earliest days in office.
“The groundswell is really taking place post-Oct. 7, because when you are basically siding with Hamas two days after the attack and calling out Israel and calling for a cease-fire when Israel hasn’t even attacked, the Jewish community at that point basically threw their hands up and said, ‘We’re not going to be able to work with this person. We need to find an alternative,’” said Rabbi Jeffrey Abraham of Congregation B’nai Amoona, a Conservative synagogue in the St. Louis suburb of Creve Coeur.
Abraham organized the March 4 letter. Bush’s campaign did not respond to a request for comment.
Jewish leaders highlighted Bush’s statements in the immediate aftermath of Oct. 7 calling for a cease-fire and blaming U.S. support for Israel for the Oct. 7 attack, as well as her votes against a resolution condemning Hamas and a bill barring Oct. 7 attackers from the U.S. as particularly offensive.
Bush was also the lead sponsor of an Oct. 16 cease-fire resolution which made no mention of Hamas or the hostages taken by Hamas.
“I’m hesitant to ever get involved politically because I’m going to upset one group or another,” Rabbi Yosef David, of Orthodox educational organization Aish HaTorah in St. Louis, told JI. “The difference here is that I look at Cori Bush and what she has done as being dangerous to the safety of Jews, both here in the States, as well as the safety of Jews in the Jewish state.”
David said that Bush’s public statements about Israel, accusing it of genocide and condeming Israel immediately after Oct. 7, ”amount to, practically speaking, a blood libel about Israel.”
“That’s beyond the pale, especially after Oct. 7,” David said. “That is putting Jews in actual, physical danger.”
He also condemned her for supporting “anarchy” on Washington University in St. Louis and Columbia University’s campuses, backing anti-Israel campus encampments.
But the Jewish community’s difficulties with Bush aren’t new. Leaders said that Bush has largely refused to engage with the mainstream Jewish community since she first took office in 2021.
“Going back for the last four years, in general, Cori Bush has not been willing to work with the mainstream Jewish community here,” Abraham said. He said her staff has brushed off meeting requests by highlighting her relationships with far-left groups including Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow.
Abraham said the dynamic was particularly stark around Hanukkah last year, when the local Chabad held its annual menorah-lighting in downtown St. Louis. Bush skipped that event, instead attending a pro-cease-fire ceremony with JVP and INN. Bell, her primary challenger, attended the Chabad event.
Abraham said he was aware of multiple requests from the local federation and JCRC to meet with Bush in 2021 and 2022, inviting her to discuss Jewish communal concerns, which were refused. He said Bush had sent staffers to some events, but almost never appeared herself.
Ze’ev Smason, the Midwest chairman of the Coalition for Jewish Values (CJV), an Orthodox rabbinic advocacy group that leans conservative politically, said that Bush had also been slated to appear at the opening event at a local Holocaust museum, but didn’t show up. Smason is also the rabbi emeritus of Nusach Hari B’nai Zion congregation, a Modern Orthodox congregation in Olivette.
The federation declined to comment in the midst of the election, referring JI to the November letter.
“It was just a number of times where, over and over again, she wouldn’t support the Jewish community when all we wanted was to sit down and meet with her,” Abraham said. “We weren’t trying to even change her views, per se.”
Based on public information, Bush has met publicly just once with Jewish leaders in St. Louis, in 2022, sitting down with the local JCRC days before her 2022 primary election. The then-leader of the JCRC, Maharat Rori Picker-Neiss said that Bush’s views on Israel didn’t come up at the meeting. Bush toured the Holocaust museum and a food pantry during that visit.
Abraham emphasized that the meeting didn’t happen until her second year in office, that it was limited to a small group from the JCRC and that Jewish leaders were turned down when they asked for a follow-up meeting with Bush.
Bush has also refused to sit for an interview with the St. Louis Jewish Light, which multiple local rabbis cited as a point of concern.
“She has demonstrated a real lack of interest,” Rabbi Yonason Goldson, executive vice president of CJV Missouri, told JI. He said that his wife had reached out to Bush’s office shortly after she was elected to arrange a meeting between her and the Orthodox community in St. Louis. “There was no interest in that whatsoever.”
Rabbi Jordan Gerson, the rabbi of the Washington University Hillel, said that Bush has “abdicat[ed]” her responsibilities to her constituencies when they “offer opinions that are critical of her policies or her stances, especially on Israel.” Gerson does not live in Bush’s district, but the Hillel falls within it.
“Not only have they been dismissed, but they’ve been ignored completely,” Gerson continued, explaining that Bush’s office has often not even acknowledged receiving communications from those who don’t agree with her views on Israel. He said the Hillel’s executive director told him that she wrote to Bush four times, without any response. “There’s just no recognition of their viewpoint because it’s inconvenient for her.”
Rabbi Jeffrey Stiffman, the rabbi emeritus of Congregation Shaare Emeth, a Reform synagogue, told JI that Bush has not responded to any of his letters — either positive or negative.
“She has her own agenda and she runs on that agenda where there’s good and there’s bad — and the Jews and Israel are bad,” Stiffman said.
Goldson said he’s heard throughout the community that “the consensus is that she feels she doesn’t need us, and therefore she has no interest in establishing any kind of a relationship or really engaging in any kind of discussion about what our priorities are.”
Bush’s icing out of the mainline Jewish community carries echoes of one of the weaknesses that ultimately brought down fellow Squad member Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) in his primary in New York last month.
While the Jewish population in Bush’s district is smaller than in Bowman’s district, Jewish leaders supporting Bell said it could be heavily mobilized against Bush in next month’s primary.
Abraham, who organized the March 4 letter endorsing Bell, said that he was inspired directly by a similar communique by rabbis in Bowman’s district condemning him and supporting his primary challenger, Westchester County Executive George Latimer.
He and other signatories described it as a largely unprecedented show of unity from the St. Louis Jewish community, bringing together leaders across religious and political denominations. Abraham said still other rabbis expressed their support for the effort, even if they weren’t willing to sign publicly.
“It took Cori Bush to get individuals to simultaneously sign a letter who have never co-signed a letter before,” Smason said. “So I think that expresses what is an overwhelming consensus within the Jewish community, our support for Wesley Bell over Cori Bush.”
Abraham said many of the signatories are now actively volunteering with Bell’s campaign, talking about him in their congregations and inviting him to speak in their synagogues. Bell’s campaign is actively working to reach out to and mobilize Jewish leaders and voters. Smason said Orthodox rabbis have been particularly engaged in supporting Bell’s campaign.
Jewish leaders said that Bell’s posture clearly contrasted with Bush’s, including meeting with and standing with the community repeatedly at local events and in other settings, including shortly after the Oct. 7 attack on Israel, before he had declared his candidacy.
“He’s actually listening to who would be his constituents, and that’s critically important,” Gerson said. “We need someone who can listen to both sides, who can discern reality from fabricated reality and really keep in mind the values of the people that they’re serving.”
Abraham said that Bell has shown up to “almost every” rally and memorial event the community has held since the Oct. 7 attack, as well as met individually with rabbis and other leaders in private settings.
“He’s been willing to meet with anyone and everyone in the Jewish community, really every step of the way,” Abraham said.
Stiffman said that, a year ago, well before he ever entered the race against Bush, Bell had attended and brought his staff to a program on antisemitism organized by the local chapter of the AJC.
David said that Bell has “become close to the Jewish community” and praised his willingness to publicly stand up for Israel.
Some of those who signed the letter endorsing Bell acknowledged that they, and others in the Orthodox community particularly, have strong disagreements with Bell politically, but have been willing to support him anyway.
“Our community does not widely support the policies of Wesley Bell, but he has taken the step of showing solidarity with the Jewish people in times of antisemitism, which [Bush] has not done at all,” Goldson said. “He seems to be a person who has a measure of personal integrity.”
Goldson said that many in the Orthodox community are Republicans but plan to vote in the Democratic primary, which is permitted under the state’s open primary rules, because “the community feels very strongly that Cori Bush has no interest in us and has no business representing our district or any others.”
Smason offered a similar assessment.
“We want a legislator who’s going to do the nuts-and-bolts work of getting things done,” he said. “I disagree very strongly with a number of Wesley Bell’s positions… but he’s a person who I believe is a person of integrity, a person who has a track record as an effective prosecutor, a person who I think will be an effective legislator for the St. Louis community.”
Some of the leaders also criticized Bush’s broader approach to politics, which they said has prompted further division. They argued that she has prioritized her own national profile over serving the needs of the local community, like infrastructure funding — another issue that helped sink Bowman’s campaign.
“She sees her job as making statements, dramatic actions,” Stiffman said. “But in terms of getting things done in Congress, I think you need a more sophisticated person. And I think that Wesley has shown that he can do that here in the county.”
“I see everything about her as focused on inciting division and strife, and exploiting differences between communities,” Goldson said.
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