“Progressives” suffered a major blow in Tuesday night’s primaries as Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) became the second “squad” member to lose to a challenger this cycle.
Coming just hours after Vice President Harris announced Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz as her running mate in a move seen as a win for the progressive wing of the party, Bush’s loss put internal party frictions over the Israel-Hamas war on full display.
Bush (D-Mo.), 48, lost her primary race to St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell by a 5.3 percentage-point margin. The Associated Press called the race at 11 p.m. with Bell leading Bush 51% to 45.7% after 94% of the votes had been counted.
The two-term congresswoman’s loss follows the June drubbing of fellow “Squad” member Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-NY) in New York’s 16th District Democratic primary, which the fire alarm-pulling congressman lost to Westchester County Executive George Latimer by nearly 17 points.
Bush’s race, like Bowman’s, pitted the far-left Democratic lawmaker against moderates turned off by her stance on Israel.