Former Rep. Cori Bush is seeking a 2026 rematch in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District after losing the 2024 Democratic primary to Wesley Bell, a race shaped in part by major outside spending from the AIPAC-affiliated super PAC United Democracy Project. Bush has argued that the outside money helped derail her, while Bell has said voters are more focused on day-to-day economic concerns.
Former U.S. Rep. Cori Bush is back on the campaign trail, seeking to win back Missouri’s 1st Congressional District in a 2026 rematch against Rep. Wesley Bell, who defeated her in the district’s 2024 Democratic primary.
Bell, then the St. Louis County prosecuting attorney, beat Bush in the August 6, 2024, primary by about five points, according to election results reported at the time. The contest drew national attention as outside groups poured money into the race, including the United Democracy Project, a super PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.
Outside spending linked to United Democracy Project reached roughly $9 million aimed at defeating Bush, multiple outlets reported during and immediately after the 2024 contest. Bush, a prominent progressive and a critic of Israel’s conduct in Gaza, has continued to cite that spending as a central factor in her loss.
“I need to go back. I didn’t finish the work that I was doing,” Bush said in an interview cited in recent reporting. She added that her effort “was interrupted by big money,” pointing to “AIPAC and their allies.”
Patrick Dorton, a spokesperson for United Democracy Project, argued in response that Bush was a “disastrously ineffective Member of Congress who didn’t deliver for her constituents,” according to the same reporting.
Usamah Andrabi of Justice Democrats, which has supported Bush, said the group believes AIPAC-aligned backing can be a political liability, saying: “Voters are waking up to [AIPAC’s] influence.”
Bell has sought to keep the focus on local economics rather than the role of outside groups. “Money in politics doesn’t impact whether they can get gas in their car and pay for food,” he said, according to recent reporting.
Fundraising filings show Bell had about $847,838 cash on hand at the end of 2025. Comparable end-of-year cash-on-hand totals for Bush for the same period were not independently confirmed from federal filings in the available sources.
National polling has also shown shifting Democratic attitudes on Israel and the Palestinians, though specific figures vary by survey question and pollster. Gallup reported in late February 2026 that overall U.S. sympathies were close to evenly split, with 41% saying they sympathized more with Palestinians and 36% more with Israelis; among Democrats, about two-thirds said they sympathized more with Palestinians.
Separately, a Quinnipiac University poll conducted amid the March 2026 U.S.-Israel campaign in Iran found 53% of U.S. voters opposed the military action, with 40% in support.
The Missouri 1st District — centered on St. Louis and widely considered safely Democratic — is expected to again draw national attention as Bush and Bell reprise a fight that has become a proxy for broader Democratic divisions over foreign policy, campaign spending and intra-party priorities.
