Former Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) is making a play for her old St. Louis seat in Congress, she announced Friday on X, a year after losing a primary in part due to her opposition to Israel.
“I ran for Congress to change things for regular people,” she said in a video announcement. “I’m running again because St. Louis deserves leadership that doesn’t wait for permission, doesn’t answer to wealthy donors and doesn’t hide when things get tough.”
The former Squad member spent two terms in Congress before being unseated in a messy Democratic primary by Rep. Wesley Bell (D-Mo.), whose campaign was bankrolled by millions from pro-Israel groups, including $8 million from AIPAC.
She was one of two progressive Democrats to lose in primaries against candidates backed by AIPAC last summer. Former Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) was bested last year by Democrat George Latimer.
While in Congress, Bush led a sit-in at the steps of the Capitol that pressured the Biden administration to continue a pandemic-era eviction moratorium. And she became an outspoken critic of Israel’s war against Hamas in Gaza, calling for a ceasefire and describing Israel as an “apartheid state.”
Bush told POLITICO last December that it was “Republican money” that unseated her in St. Louis. She acknowledged AIPAC’s role in her defeat last August, telling the lobbying group “I’m coming to tear your kingdom down” in a speech following Bell’s victory.
But Bush cast a forward-looking view in her campaign announcement.
“All across America we see it, our rights rolled back, our history being rewritten, our lives on the line,” she said. “The stakes for our community here have never been higher. I’m running because our district deserves someone ten toes down, for our families, for our wallets, for our safety, for our Democracy and for our bright future.”
In a post on X Friday, Bell slammed Bush for her ‘no’ vote on Democrats’ 2021 bipartisan infrastructure law and highlighted a Justice Department investigation into her campaign spending.
“St. Louis deserves real results and honest representation, not more headlines or scandals,” he wrote. “When it came time to deliver, Cori Bush’s focus wasn’t on our community, but on her own national agenda. That’s why our district was left behind.”
