Missouri Democrats reject ‘an extreme’ as Bell defeats Bush in primary rematch 

It took roughly an hour and only 26% of the vote reporting for Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Missouri, to defeat former Rep. Cori Bush for a second time in the St. Louis congressional Democratic primary race.

The rematch highlighted just how far apart the two candidates were on foreign policy and party loyalty. During the campaign, Bell argued for continued military aid to Israel while Bush pledged she’d absolutely vote to cut off military aid to Israel.

Bell pointed to local priorities when asked how much his win Tuesday could be attributed to his differences with Bush regarding the Israel-Hamas war.

“This election was about St. Louis, and I know from a national lens it can always look different than what it is,” Bell told Heartlander News after his acceptance speech. “But the folks in St. Louis care about the issues matter to the folks in St. Louis, and we were laser focused on addressing gun violence, addressing the cost of living, healthcare costs for folks right here in St. Louis, and so I’m just proud of the coalition of folks we’ve brought together to bring this race home to show at the end of the day, it’s about this. It was about St. Louis last week. It was about St. Louis during this campaign. It’ll be about St. Louis tomorrow.”

Bell again deferred to local issues when asked if defeating Bush a second time meant St. Louis Democrats were rejecting the progressive wing’s ideology.

“What we were focused on were the issues matter to people right here in St. Louis,” he said. “Now there will be political pundits who will break it down and look at other issues. But for us, it was about the people in this room bringing jobs, opportunity and resources to this region. That’s what we were laser focused on, and that’s why we had such a resounding victory.”

Attendees at Bell’s watch party in downtown St. Louis echoed his message Tuesday night.

Joan Lipkin, an activist who promotes voting rights through her organization Dance The Vote, said the district preferred a candidate willing to work across the aisle.

“St. Louis demonstrated they don’t want ‘an extreme’ like some other places in the country,” she told Heartlander News. “They want a really moderate person who can reach across the aisle. That’s what we need right now.”

Lipkin pushed back against the narratives the race was decided by pro-Israel outside spending. She voted for Bush in the past but chose to support Bell in this primary.

“This is not about AIPAC buying an election,” Lipkin said, referencing the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a leading contributor to some campaigns. “If you look and see who’s in this room, there are nurses, there are trade unionists, there are young people. There’s no way AIPAC could influence all these people. This is a guy who has long-time commitments to the St. Louis area, and he shows up, and they know he works hard. But people want to distort it, and they want to say this is about AIPAC. It’s not. [Bush] made a lot of her campaign about Israel. That’s not what his campaign was about.”

Neil Jaffe, chapter chair of liberal advocacy group J Street St. Louis, celebrated Bell’s legislative record. J Street promotes a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

“We’re excited to continue to work with Wesley,” Jaffe said. “He supported the West Bank Violence Prevention Act, and we think there’s a lot of legislation related to the Middle East we think he can really see a path to peace, and we’re excited to work with him.”

Jaffe attributed the victory to Bell’s temperament rather than single-issue voting.

“I think in the end Wesley brings such a mature, thoughtful, professional approach to governing I think people just responded overwhelmingly to his ability to represent St. Louisans, all of St. Louis, whether Jewish or not or whatever, absolutely all St. Louisans,” Jaffe said.

Bush, the former squad member, delivered a fiery concession speech to supporters across town.

“It pisses me off for the next two years, this community will be represented by someone who didn’t deem you valuable enough to show up to one candidate forum where there were audience comments,” Bush told her supporters. “He ran a whole campaign on smears and nothing about what he’s done because he hasn’t done anything, and nothing about what he will do because he doesn’t know.”

Bell will now face Republican nominee Paul Berry III in the Nov. 3 general election.

Berry secured the Republican nomination Tuesday night with 53.5% of the vote (7,037 votes), narrowly defeating Andrew Jones, who received 46.5% (6,125 votes).

(Rep. Wesley Bell, D-Missouri, speaking with reporters following his primary victory against former Rep. Cori Bush on Aug. 4, 2026. Image credit: Stuart McMillian/Heartlander News)