Former Rep. Cori Bush, the Missouri Democrat who lost her seat in 2024, has formally entered the race to reclaim her position.
Bush had lost her seat to Rep. Wesley Bell, a fellow progressive with pro-Israel backing. Reports indicated that pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC invested $8.6 million in the race to defeat Bush.
Bush filed her candidacy on Tuesday in Jefferson City, Missouri. During a rally following her filing, she emphasized her commitment to running a grassroots campaign and rejected contributions from corporate PACs.
“The tide has already turned, and people are saying no-they want to be the ones to pick their representatives,” she declared. “And so, whether that money filters into the community or not, I think the community is also going to call out any candidate who is accepting that money.”
Bush, who had been a member of the far-left “Squad” in the US House of Representatives, claimed in an interview with Democracy Now! on Friday that her 2024 primary loss was the result of misinformation and misleading advertising funded by AIPAC.
“First of all, I believe that the seat was stolen. What I mean by that is the people of St. Louis did not make the decision based upon truth… They made the decision to elect someone else based on lies, deceit,” Bush charged.
She also expressed her belief that her loss was orchestrated to silence her activism, particularly her vocal support for Palestinian Arab rights and human rights issues. “So I’m running again because the person in the seat, he’s not meeting the moment,” she stated. “He’s someone that was basically placed there to quiet Cori Bush… placed there to stop a movement.”
In October, when she first announced her re-election bid, Bush similarly accused AIPAC of targeting her.
“Because I spoke truth, they pushed back, attacked my name, my motives, spread lies and hate,” she said, as headlines of AIPAC’s spending appeared onscreen.
Last month, Bush claimed that “AIPAC and their allies poured $15 million into St. Louis last cycle to lie about me and silence our movement. They thought I would go away. But just like St. Louis, I never break.”
In October of 2023, after Hamas’s brutal attacks on Israel, Bush called for an end to “US government support for Israeli military occupation and apartheid.”
Those comments, along with comments by other “Squad” members, were blasted by then-White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre, who described them as “wrong, repugnant, and disgraceful.”
In the past, Bush accused the American government of funding the Israeli military in order to “police and kill Palestinians” and also refused to participate in an interview with the St. Louis Jewish Light.
(Arutz Sheva-Israel National News’ North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)
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