{"id":6427,"date":"2026-08-05T01:30:07","date_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6427"},"modified":"2026-08-05T01:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-08-05T01:30:08","slug":"wesley-bell-wins-missouri-house-primary-as-cori-bush-comeback-bid-fails","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/?p=6427","title":{"rendered":"Wesley Bell wins Missouri House primary as Cori Bush comeback bid fails"},"content":{"rendered":"<div data-gu-name=\"media\" class=\"dcr-14sl0e4\">\n<div class=\"dcr-17l77cs\">\n<figure id=\"508f52d3-6172-42ac-a72b-8b9968b9bfe7\" class=\"dcr-191xnya\">\n<div id=\"img-1\" class=\"dcr-1t7hdmw\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Cori Bush and Wesley Bell.\" src=\"https:\/\/i.guim.co.uk\/img\/media\/f5b8402288b8ccab2cddc586f736b8883b390e51\/0_0_5000_4000\/master\/5000.jpg?width=465&amp;dpr=1&amp;s=none&amp;crop=none\" width=\"465\" height=\"372\" loading=\"eager\" class=\"dcr-up96pv\"><span class=\"dcr-kogzpx\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-18mnkpm\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1294qmb\"><label for=\"the-checkbox\" class=\"dcr-4sl2vt\"><\/label> <\/p>\n<div id=\"the-caption\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1mfxiaj\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Cori Bush and Wesley Bell.<\/span> Composite: AP<\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/span><a href=\"#img-1\" data-ignore=\"global-link-styling\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-zwabc0\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><button data-element-id=\"508f52d3-6172-42ac-a72b-8b9968b9bfe7\" type=\"button\" class=\"open-lightbox dcr-1bitgpn\" aria-haspopup=\"dialog\"><span class=\"dcr-1shbixy\">View image in fullscreen<\/span><\/button><\/a><\/div>\n<p><span class=\"dcr-qda0hp\"><figcaption data-spacefinder-role=\"inline\" class=\"dcr-1e9iiy9\"><span class=\"dcr-13i4yc9\"><\/span><span class=\"dcr-1cipnsy\">Cori Bush and Wesley Bell.<\/span> Composite: AP<\/figcaption><\/span><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"headline\" class=\"dcr-ql9l8l\">\n<div class=\"dcr-6mja0y\">\n<h1 class=\"dcr-l0wuod\">Wesley Bell wins Missouri House primary as Cori Bush comeback bid fails<\/h1>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"standfirst\" class=\"dcr-1xpojbf\">\n<div class=\"dcr-1gm5ptv\">\n<p>Wesley Bell wins in St Louis rematch dominated by Israel-Palestine issue<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/live\/2026\/aug\/04\/midterm-primary-elections-updates-michigan-senate\" data-link-name=\"in standfirst link\">US politics live \u2013 latest updates<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"body\" class=\"dcr-x1al2c\">\n<div class=\"dcr-11gq2tx\">\n<div id=\"maincontent\" class=\"dcr-1w2vkyc\">\n<div class=\"article-body-commercial-selector article-body-viewer-selector dcr-ogvvui\">\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The Democratic congressman Wesley Bell won his primary in the St Louis area on Tuesday, ending the progressive former representative Cori Bush\u2019s bid for a comeback and blunting the momentum pro-Palestinian candidates have shown in recent elections.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Bell unseated Bush, a democratic socialist who opposes aid to the US ally and accuses it of committing a genocide in Gaza, in the Democratic congressional primary two years ago with the help of millions of dollars in spending from pro-Israel groups. Their rematch this year came amid <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/jul\/12\/israel-gaza-war-democrats-midterms\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">a spate of primary defeats<\/a> of Democratic incumbents at the hands of progressive outsiders.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Shortly after polls closed, the Associated Press declared that Bell had prevailed. The district\u2019s heavily Democratic lean makes Bell the favorite to win a second term in the November election.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The United Democracy Project, a Super Pac aligned with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (Aipac), poured about $3m into helping Bell\u2019s campaign against Bush, who served terms in the House of Representatives after being elected in 2020 and was a member of \u201cthe Squad\u201d of progressive lawmakers of color.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">The two candidates had squared off over who would better stand up to Donald Trump and spur growth in the St Louis region, which is managing the aftermath of a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2025\/may\/16\/us-extreme-weather\" data-link-name=\"in body link\">deadly tornado<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">On the campaign trail, Bell, a former county prosecutor, criticized Bush for voting against Joe Biden\u2019s 2021 infrastructure bill, and for a comment in which she appeared to link both Biden and Kamala Harris to \u201cfascism\u201d. Bush said she opposed the infrastructure bill only because it did not contain spending on social services that Biden had promised, and that her words about the former president and vice-president were taken out of context.<\/p>\n<p class=\"dcr-1s160rg\">Bush hit back by accusing Bell of having his seat bought for him by Aipac. The congressman has said he is in favor of supporting Israel while opposing Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-print-layout=\"hide\" class=\"dcr-swayiu\"><span class=\"dcr-1xhbmzr\">Explore more on these topics<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-2c03t5\">\n<ul class=\"dcr-p7nd18\">\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/missouri\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Missouri<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/cori-bush\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">Cori Bush<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/us-news\/us-politics\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">US politics<\/a><\/li>\n<li class=\"dcr-r721ee\"><a href=\"\/tone\/news\" class=\"dcr-856iwi\">news<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"dcr-313bdz\"><a href=\"mailto:?subject=Wesley%20Bell%20wins%20Missouri%20House%20primary%20as%20Cori%20Bush%20comeback%20bid%20fails&amp;body=https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/us-news\/2026\/aug\/04\/wesley-bell-missouri-democratic-primary-congress?CMP=share_btn_url\" class=\"dcr-ncybeu\">Share<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"dcr-19bkree\"><a data-link-name=\"meta-syndication-article\" href=\"https:\/\/syndication.theguardian.com\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.theguardian.com%2Fus-news%2F2026%2Faug%2F04%2Fwesley-bell-missouri-democratic-primary-congress&amp;type=article&amp;internalpagecode=us-news\/2026\/aug\/04\/wesley-bell-missouri-democratic-primary-congress\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer\" title=\"Reuse this content\" class=\"dcr-1c41onw\">Reuse this content<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div data-gu-name=\"right-column\" class=\"dcr-1kq7f60\"><span class=\"dcr-1ryr20k\"><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cori Bush and Wesley Bell. Composite: AP View image in fullscreen Cori Bush and Wesley Bell. Composite: AP<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":6429,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-us-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6430,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6427\/revisions\/6430"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/6429"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.usglobalnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}