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The St. Louis County prosecutor’s day challenging Rep. Cori Bush for a Missouri House seat began Thursday with an interview with a prominent black radio personality in St. Louis.
Prosecutor Wesley Bell then went on to teach a sociology class at St. Louis Community College, where he once taught criminal justice, and had lunch at a soul food restaurant in Ferguson, where protests virtually Nearly 10 years have passed since the birth of the black community, and it is now peaceful. Lives Matter movement.
He spent the afternoon meeting with labor unions, stopping by a Vietnamese community event celebrating Lunar New Year, and finishing late at night at the North County Democratic Club in suburban Hazelwood.
Mr. Bell, 49, made the promise to members of the North American Federation of Labor, who once supported Mr. Bush and are now backing Mr. Bell’s challenger. “And if you want me to come, I’m going to come.”
Driven by passion over the October 7 massacre of Israelis and the ensuing war in Gaza, pro-Israel groups are pushing Democratic-heavy elections to unseat vocal critics of Israel on the political left. It funds numerous primaries in the district.
This terrible war has created a divide between centrist Democrats and progressives like Mr. Bush. Mr. Bush has criticized Israel’s response and sought to withhold aid while calling for a ceasefire as the death toll in Gaza rises. Late last month, Mr. Bush and Rashida Tlaib, the only Palestinian-American in the House, were the lone opponents of a resolution to bar Hamas members and those who took part in the October 7 attack on Israel from the United States.
But it’s different from many primaries supported by a variety of groups, including the American Israel Political Affairs Committee. Its political affiliate, the United Democracy Project. and an independent Israeli Democratic majority — the Bush-Bell battle in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District is between progressives and progressives, each with considerable track records that have little to do with Israel. .
And although it is powered by funding from pro-Israel groups and staunch critics of Israel, the fight for Missouri’s deep-blue First District is likely to have little mention of the Middle East. Instead, it will be a battle over representation, and what that should look like for troubled St. Louis.
“I am targeted by AIPAC not only because I believe that Palestinians have the same right to live in freedom and peace as Israelis, but also because I believe that Palestinians have the same right to live in freedom and peace as Israelis, but also because I believe that Palestinians have the same right to live in freedom and peace as Israelis. Because I want to,” Bush said Monday. “I want to codify abortion rights, pass meaningful gun violence prevention legislation, and raise taxes on billionaires, but AIPAC and its Republican donors and the insurrectionists they support Everything I am against.”
Mr. Bush is a symbol of the left, an activist who took his voice from the streets of the Ferguson protests to the Capitol. But Bell also took to the streets, mediating between protesters and police, and was later elected to the Ferguson City Council.
He is a central figure in a progressive prosecutorial movement that seeks to divert low-level offenders from incarceration and into mental health and drug treatment programs, release wrongfully convicted people from St. Louis prisons, and increase oversight of authorities. I have spent nearly 10 years on it. Law enforcement and prosecutorial misconduct.
The primary is expected to garner national attention because of the wide-ranging debate over Israel and how far Democrats are willing to embrace some of the Jewish state’s harshest critics, like Mr. Bush. But in the city of St. Louis and the surrounding county that shares its name, the race could revolve around the limits of activism and individuality in an area that desperately needs tangible help.
Mr. Busch enters the race as a lightning rod. Her pro-Palestinian activities made her the focus of special attention from pro-Israel groups. She acknowledged that she is the subject of a federal criminal investigation into the use of her campaign funds to pay for her husband’s security staff. And her outlandish personality is having a negative impact on some in the Democratic Party leadership.
But for Bell and her supporters, her transgressions are more localized. First and foremost, she voted against a bipartisan infrastructure bill, a blow to the unions that had supported her. Worse, she never met with them to explain her vote, said Clinton McBride, government relations director for Workers International Local 110.
“Communication is fun,” he said. “Even when there is nothing, it says a lot.”
Mr. Bush denies keeping the union in the dark and insists his team was in contact with him before, during and after the vote.
There are many voters in St. Louis who love Mr. Bush’s dignified campaign style and lament having to choose between two progressives. Ken Hughes, a former member of the labor group Local 42, recalled that in 2021, Mr. Bush camped out on the steps of the Capitol in an orange sleeping bag and a lawn chair. This is about an eviction that was an all-nighter that forced an extension of the pandemic-era moratorium.
“She’s a fighter for the people and I like that,” said Hughes, 60, who has not yet decided how she will vote in the Aug. 6 primary.
His friend Greg Lomax, 54, had not made a decision at the start of Thursday’s labor meeting. But then, “I found out today that she voted against the infrastructure bill,” he said.
Mr. Lomax spoke positively of her beliefs, adding with a tone of disapproval, “But you know, she’s very resistant.”
St. Louis City Council President Megan Green said Mr. Busch was responsive to the city’s needs. Mr. Bush said he has secured nearly $2 billion for community health facilities, public schools and nonprofit organizations in St. Louis.
“For those of us who live here, when Cori says your congressman loves you, our community feels it,” Green said.
The pro-Israel group has not yet officially intervened in the primary, but AIPAC officials said Monday that the group is supporting Bell. Other groups are expected to support Bell soon. At the same time, these groups’ fundraising efforts have been staggering since Hamas’s attack on Israel on October 7 and the resulting war in Gaza.
The United Democracy Project says it has earned more than $44 million by the end of 2023, and still has about $41 million left in its war chest. Donors included prominent pro-Trump Republicans, including Home Depot co-founder Bernard Marcus, who gave $1 million to political action committees.
The Israeli Democratic majority could spend an additional $1.7 million at the end of the year.
These groups have targeted a number of incumbent Democratic politicians this term, including Rep. Summer Lee of Pittsburgh, Rep. Ilhan Omar of Minneapolis, Rep. Jamal Bowman of New York, and Rep. Tlaib of Detroit.
“Defeating an incumbent is the hardest thing in politics. It’s just a statistical fact, she’s not an unpopular politician,” said Mark, a veteran Democratic operative and founder of the Israel Democratic Majority PAC.・Mr. Melman said.
But he added: “She could be beaten.”
St. Louis AIPAC Council co-chairs Marcy and Richard Kornfeld have already given Bell their highest rating, as has investor Tony Davis. Timothy Drury, the scion of a Republican hotelier family, maximized his donations to Mr. Bell. So does LinkedIn founder and Democratic megadonor Reid Hoffman.
Osama Andrabi, a spokesman for Justice Democrats, a left-wing political action committee that supported Mr. Bush’s rise, said Mr. Bell had considered running for the Senate against Missouri’s senior senator, Republican Josh Hawley. , it’s telling that I ended up having second thoughts. And I will support her again this year.
“Wesley Bell raised thousands of dollars from almost every donor from his showdown with Josh Hawley, an actual right-wing insurrectionist, to Josh Hawley, Donald Trump, and Missouri’s first black congressman.” “I ran against Missouri’s first black congressman,” he said.
For Mr. Bush and local and national liberal activists, such contributors disqualify a candidate who claims to be a progressive champion of local issues.
“I don’t see Wesley Bell as a progressive,” said Hannah Rosenthal, co-founder of Progressive Jews of St. Louis and a Bush ally. “His loyalty to AIPAC supporters is a prime example.”
Activist Oan Ash, who met Mr. Bush during street protests in Ferguson after the killing of Michael Brown in 2014, said the imminent intervention of national pro-Israel groups is part of Mr. Bell’s stance. Told.
Mr. Bell helped mediate between protesters and Ferguson police during the riots, and then in 2018 promised to reopen the case against Darren Wilson, the officer who shot Mr. Defeated Robert McCulloch.
He upheld that pledge and said in 2020 that he did not have a strong case against the officer, a conclusion his predecessor and the Justice Department also reached.
Even Mr. Bell’s supporters say the pain lingers.
“Some of the people who appointed him as prosecutor may not have supported him against Cori Bush,” said Ella Jones, now the first black mayor of Ferguson, who supports Mr. Ferguson. . “They’re still upset.”
Mr. Bell said in an interview that Mr. Bush and his allies were able to secure an outside-funded primary because Mr. Bush did just that in 2020, defeating 10-term incumbent William Lacy Clay Jr. It is said that it is quite wealthy to question. , whose last name was virtually synonymous with Missouri’s First District.
Mr. Bell said Israel had a right to self-defense and criticized Mr. Bush for some of his votes, particularly his opposition to U.S. investment in Israel’s Iron Dome missile defense system, and accused him of pro-Israel politics. Easily provide opinions that appeal to donors. He argues that it is important to stop widespread wars in the Middle East.
But his campaign is focused on his record. 2,200 low-level, nonviolent defendants were transferred to medical, job training, and mentoring programs, with a recidivism rate of 5.9 percent. Establishment of a unit to investigate credible allegations of false imprisonment and misconduct by public officials. and an end to capital murder prosecutions in the county — all pursued amid a national backlash against such efforts.
“This is a big problem for the state of Missouri,” said Jessica Brand, founder of the Wren Collective, which calls for a non-punitive approach to prosecution. “It’s hard to commit to the cause long-term because they’re coming for you.”
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