AIPAC's fight to take out another "Squad" member turns brutal
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Rep. Cori Bush at a news conference at the Capitol on May 8, 2024. Photo: Robbert/Bloomberg via Getty Images.
The pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC is pouring money into its effort to take out a second member of the progressive "Squad" this cycle, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.)— and the fight is turning predictably bitter.
Why it matters: Polling suggests Bush, a prominent progressive, is in serious danger of losing her re-election battle to local prosecutor Wesley Bell.
- She would be the second Squad member to lose to a well-funded primary challenger backed by pro-Israel groups, following Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.).
State of play: Bush has become a target this cycle due to her strident criticism of Israel, with multiple federal investigations into her campaign finances creating an opening for a credible primary challenge.
- Bell, the prosecuting attorney of St. Louis County, has gone after Bush over the investigations, as well as her record of occasionally breaking with her party on key issues from the left, while pitching himself as a progressive reformer.
- Bush has tried to tie Bell to Republicans, hammering him for managing a GOP congressional campaign in 2006 and seizing on AIPAC's Republican donors – a common tactic for AIPAC-targeted progressives.
By the numbers: United Democracy Project, AIPAC's political arm, has spent nearly $9 million on ads to boost Bell, according to data from tracking firm AdImpact.
- That is on top of nearly $3 million Bell has spent on ads and another $1.5 million spent by Fairshake, a pro-crypto PAC supporting him.
- By contrast, Bush's campaign has spent just $1 million on ads, backed up by $2.2 million from the progressive group Justice Democrats.
- All told, the race has seen more than $18 million in ad spending, making it one of the most expensive House primaries ever – though short of the $25 million spent in Bowman's race.
Zoom in: The content of the ads is as revealing as the spending behind them, showing just how nasty the contest has become.
- So many negative ads have flooded the race, both sides have ads attacking negative ads against their respective candidates.
- One particularly tough ad from the Bush campaign features family members of Michael Brown criticizing Bell for not bringing charges against the officer who shot Brown in 2014.
- In response to Bell hammering Bush for voting against the bipartisan infrastructure bill, a Justice Democrats ad attacks Bell, who is not a member of Congress, for not casting "a single vote in Congress with Joe Biden."
What they're saying: Rep. Delia Ramirez (D-Ill.), who did a fundraiser for Bush last weekend, told Axios, "I was out there talking to people, and there were 8-year-old kids saying, 'I don't know who Cori is, but YouTube told me not to like her."
- "When four or five of the ads that come out are attack ads against Cori ... I don't think constituents, at face value, have had an opportunity to know who she is running against," Ramirez added.
- "It is something that I've never ... experienced," Bell told Axios of the tenor of the campaign, adding that "the money that's coming into campaigns is just insane and I think it takes away from the issues that actually matter."
- Of the Justice Democrats ad, Bell said: "My official response to that is LOL. As a matter of fact, LMAO. That one was tragically comical."
- Bush's campaign did not respond to a request for an interview.
The bottom line: For many Democrats, even pro-Israel ones with little love for the "Squad," the magnitude of AIPAC's spending against Bush and Bowman casts an ominous shadow.
- "Any member, even a leader, would be in big trouble if anyone spent $14 million against them," said Ramirez, referring to the sum spent against Bowman.
- "We shouldn't just be thinking well these [targeted members] are too progressive. We should all be worried that the AIPACs of the world can spend that much money."
