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Washington DC – A progressive Democrat will fight to keep her seat in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday — even as she faces threats from within her own party.
The Democrat, Cori Bushfaces a stiff primary challenge from County Attorney Wesley Bell as they both compete to represent Missouri in the House of Representatives.
But experts say their debate boils down to one core issue: how to handle Israel’s war in Gaza.
Bush, a member of the progressive “squad” in Congress, has been an outspoken opponent of Israel’s military offensive, which has killed more than 39,600 Palestinians.
She insisted her main challenge was part of a larger effort to silence criticism of longtime U.S. ally Israel and sow division within the Democratic Party.
“This is just the beginning,” Bush said in an Associated Press interview published last week. “Because if they can get rid of me, they’re going to go after more Democrats.”
Political observers also noted that Bush’s rival, Baer, has the support of a powerful pro-Israel lobby.
Their campaign is the latest Democratic primary to receive huge financial support from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) and its affiliates. Super PACand the United Democratic Project (UDP). The two organizations have invested $8.4 million to support Bell’s campaign for Congress.
In this episode, Al Jazeera analyses the issues involved in the Missouri race and what its outcome could mean for the future of the Democratic Party.
When and where are the primaries held?
The Democratic primary will be held on Tuesday, August 6th.
It will determine which Democratic candidate will run in the Nov. 5 general election for a chance to represent Missouri’s 1st Congressional District.
The district, which includes the city of St. Louis, a major metropolitan area along the Mississippi River near the Illinois border, is considered solidly Democratic, even though Missouri as a whole leans to the right.
Who is the current Cori Bush?
Bush, a 48-year-old nurse and pastor, is known for following in the footsteps of police officers Michael Brown was killedA black teenager in Ferguson, Missouri, in 2014.
She credits the horror of Brown’s death and the protests that followed as driving her into politics. She initially lost two bids for Congress, one for the Senate in 2016 and another for the House of Representatives in 2018.
But in 2020, her fortunes changed. She defeated 20-year veteran congressman Lacy Clay in the Democratic primary that year and ultimately won the right to represent Missouri’s 1st Congressional District.
Her election was part of a wave of progressive victories across the country, including Jamaal Bowman’s surprise win in New York. Other prominent progressives, including Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Rashida Tlaib, also managed to retain their seats that year.
Bush became the first black woman to represent her district in Congress.
Who is her Democratic opponent, Wesley Bell?
Wesley Bell has served as St. Louis County prosecutor since 2018. He is the first Black person to hold the position.
Like Bush, Bell has been active in the Ferguson protests and “worked directly to ease tensions between residents and police,” according to his campaign website.
He served on a committee that liaised with the U.S. Justice Department to develop a plan to overhaul Ferguson’s criminal justice system. But like his predecessors in the DA’s office, Bell was criticized for declining to bring charges against the officers involved in Brown’s killing.
Like Bush, Bell calls himself a progressive: Many of their policy positions are broadly aligned. However, Bell criticized Bush for voting against President Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure package in 2021.
What are the candidates’ positions on Israel?
One of the biggest disagreements between Bush and Bell was their stance on Israel.
Bush was the first in Congress Call for ceasefire She has also repeatedly supported legislation to put more pressure on Israel to stop the war.
She also likened Israel’s military operations in Gaza to “ethnic cleansing” and “collective punishment of the Palestinians.”
In contrast, Bell said the United States must continue to support its ally Israel while working towards a “peaceful solution.”
He recently told the Associated Press that Bush’s criticism of the war was “false and offensive.”
“We don’t want to see any innocent Palestinians, any innocent Israelis, get hurt. We want the door to a two-state solution to always be open,” he said.
Why did Wesley decide to confront Bush?
It has been a focal point of the primary elections since the Gaza war began.
Soon after the war broke out on October 7, Bush joined other progressive members of the House of Representatives in calling for “an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire between Israel and occupied Palestine.”
But the stance sparked a backlash against Bush, with some of her fellow Democrats attacking her for not supporting Israel’s right to “self-defense.”
On October 30, Bell announced that he would give up his Senate campaign and compete with Bush for a seat in the House of Representatives.
What is the role of AIPAC?
Since Bell entered the race, the United Democracy Project, the super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, has spent more than $8.4 million trying to remove Bush.
This amount accounts for more than half of all spending outside of campaign funds.
Supreme Court 2010 Citizens United Decision Super PACs are allowed to spend unlimited amounts of money in political campaigns as long as the groups don’t coordinate directly with candidates.
In the Democratic primary in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, there was a flood of ads attacking Bush or endorsing Bell.
While many of the ads are funded by pro-Israel super PACs, they often include little mention of the candidates’ positions on Israel.
Bush also received a large amount of outside money, including $2.2 million from the national progressive group Justice Democrats. But overall, outside spending on Bush accounted for only about a third of what was spent on Bell.
What does it mean?
Critics have long decried the role of unlimited outside spending in American politics, saying it enables certain interest groups to exert outsized influence over campaigns.
For example, a recent campaign finance analysis by Politico found that while the American Israel Public Affairs Committee receives donations from both Republicans and Democrats, it is the “largest source of Republican money flowing into the competitive Democratic primary this year.”
Bush supporters fear the spending will send a chilling message: Any criticism of Israel carries huge risks for U.S. lawmakers.
The United Democratic Plan spent Historic $14.5 million Earlier this year, he successfully ousted fellow “Squad” member Congressman Jamaal Bowman.
Critics also warn that the spending could produce results that are out of sync with the Democratic base. Widespread opposition in the U.S. There is strong support for Israel’s military action in Gaza and strong support for a ceasefire, especially among Democrats.
“It’s gotten to a troubling point where outside spending can exceed candidate spending. It means candidates are no longer in charge of their campaigns,” Craig Holman, government affairs lobbyist at consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, told Al Jazeera in June.
“We used to see this happen occasionally, but now we’re seeing it happen more often, and that’s problematic.”
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