Rep. Wesley Bell routed former Squad member Cori Bush by more than 40 points in their Missouri primary rematch, a decisive rejection of the Democratic Socialists' bid to reclaim a St. Louis congressional seat.
Bell took 71 percent of the vote to Bush's 26 percent, with the Associated Press calling the race at 9:02 p.m., the Washington Examiner reported. The margin was even wider than the 2024 contest that first ended Bush's two-term congressional career, and it landed with the finality of a voter base that has made up its mind.
The result in Missouri's 1st Congressional District, a deep-blue seat anchored in the St. Louis area, was not a contest between a Republican and a Democrat. It was a referendum within the Democratic Party on whether the far-left, DSA-aligned wing can hold ground outside safe progressive enclaves. In St. Louis, the answer was no, twice.
Bell, a former St. Louis County prosecutor, first unseated Bush in 2024 after dropping a Senate challenge against Republican Josh Hawley to focus on the House race. National Review reported that Bell cited Bush's hostility toward Israel as a key motivating factor, along with encouragement from Democratic leaders and donors who wanted a more pragmatic representative.
Bush was one of only ten members of Congress who voted against a resolution supporting Israel after the Hamas attacks that killed roughly 1,400 Israelis. She posted on social media calling Israel's military response "ethnic cleansing."
In his victory speech, Bell kept the focus on constituent work rather than ideology. AP News reported his remarks:
"When we think about all that noise that was going on, I have a tremendous group of folks, and we just got to work."
One voter quoted by the AP put it more bluntly. Sandra Milbrandt said:
"We had Cori Bush before, and a lot of things went wrong. Wesley Bell has been doing good. So why would we not keep him there?"
Bell also told the New York Post that Bush was "not a serious candidate." His one-line summary of her political trajectory: "She was fired."
The pro-Israel lobby group AIPAC, through its United Democracy Project super PAC, spent at least $2.1 million backing Bell in the 2026 race. That figure was actually far less than the roughly $9 million AIPAC poured into the 2024 primary, according to the New York Post. Bell still won by a wider margin with less outside help, a sign that Bush's problems ran deeper than any spending gap.
Bush tried to make AIPAC the villain. After her 2024 defeat, she delivered a concession speech that drew condemnation from the Biden White House:
"Let me say this, AIPAC, I'm coming to tear your kingdom down."
She also declared she had been "radicalized" by the loss. Those remarks did not age well. Two years later, voters in the same district rejected her by an even larger margin.
During the 2026 campaign, Bush attacked Bell on social media for taking an AIPAC-funded trip to Israel less than 90 days after a tornado caused $1.6 billion in damages in the St. Louis area and took several lives. Fox News reported her post on X:
"When the disaster caused $1.6 billion in damages and took several lives, Wesley responded by hopping on a flight to Israel funded by Trump's donors less than 90 days later."
The attack did not move the needle. Bell carried more than two-thirds of the vote.
Bush's defeat is the latest evidence that the Squad, the faction of far-left House Democrats once led by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, is losing its ability to win competitive races. Bush, a former Black Lives Matter organizer and member of the Democratic Socialists of America, championed defunding the police and backed the Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement against Israel. Those positions played well on cable news and social media. They did not play well with the voters who actually live in Missouri's 1st District.
The establishment wing of the Democratic Party lined up behind Bell. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries endorsed him. So did the Congressional Black Caucus PAC. Bell's victory was framed by Politico as a win "not only for the pro-Israel lobby but also for the establishment wing of the Democratic Party."
But that framing obscures a messier picture for Democratic leadership. While the establishment held its ground in St. Louis, a recent socialist primary sweep in New York showed the DSA wing gaining strength in other parts of the country. The two results point in opposite directions, and together they describe a party pulling itself apart.
Bell issued a statement after the race was called. The Washington Examiner quoted him:
"I am honored and grateful that the people of Missouri's First Congressional District have continued to put their trust in me to represent them in Congress."
He is expected to win easily in November in the heavily Democratic district.
Bell's decisive win over Bush is a data point in a broader fight inside the Democratic Party, one that pits pragmatic incumbents against DSA-backed insurgents in primaries across the country. The conflict is not just about Israel, though that issue has become the sharpest dividing line. It is about whether the party's future belongs to its activist base or its governing wing.
In New York, Jeffries faced pointed questions about whether the socialist wing would come for him next. Sen. John Fetterman has been among the most vocal establishment Democrats pushing back; he has publicly criticized his own party's socialist drift in blunt terms.
Bush's record illustrates why that fight matters. She served two terms in Congress, built a national media profile around progressive activism, and lost her seat to a former prosecutor who promised to focus on the district instead of the movement. When she came back for a rematch, voters rejected her by an even wider margin, and with less outside money needed to make the case against her.
The ongoing fight between progressives and the party establishment over who controls the Democratic Party's direction will not be settled by one primary in Missouri. But Bush's landslide loss, her second in a row, in a district she once held, suggests there is a ceiling on how far left Democratic voters in a working-class city will go.
Voters in St. Louis did not need $9 million in outside spending to make up their minds this time. They just needed the ballot.
