Rep. Cori Bush (D-Missouri) vowed revenge against a major pro-Israel PAC after her reelection primary defeat on Tuesday, when the group backed her opponent in a hotly contested race and defeated a second member of her progressive “team.”
The United Democracy Project, a super PAC of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), was the largest donor to Bush’s opponent, St. Louis County District Attorney Wesley Bell, who was heavily criticized for his public criticism of Israel’s war on Gaza.
In a fiery speech after his defeat, Bush said leaving Congress would simply “make us a little less tied down.”
“Now there are conditions I have put on me and I love my job but all they have done is radicalise me. They should be afraid now,” she said.
“They get to see another side of me, another side of me,” she continued. “Nothing in my life ever happens in vain, so this was meant to happen, and I would say it’s all because of the work that I have to do.”
“And AIPAC, I’m coming to destroy your kingdom!” she added to cheers.
Members of the unit have called the ongoing Gaza war an “Israeli campaign of ethnic cleansing” and introduced an “immediate ceasefire resolution” earlier this year. Some of her comments have drawn backlash from fellow lawmakers as well as from constituents in her own district.
“I think [her] “These comments demonstrate a lack of understanding of the nuance and complexity of issues that are literally hundreds of years in the making.” Bell says when he announced his election campaign.
according to SludgeAIPAC helped raise two-thirds of Bell’s campaign funds, and the United Democracy Project spent more than $7 million to oust Bush.
Bush is the second Squad member to lose a primary this season, following Rep. Jamaal Bowman of New York, who also lost to an opponent heavily backed by AIPAC. After Bowman’s loss last month, some progressives raised alarm about the group’s influence.
“I think we need to have a serious conversation about AIPAC,” Ocasio-Cortez said after Bowman’s defeat.
The group has been controversial among some Democrats because it has a history of backing conservative candidates and is funded in part by major Republican donors.
“I think we need to have a serious conversation about how Republican organizations, organizations that are primarily Republican and largely Republican-funded, are squandering money and playing a very divisive role within the Democratic Party,” said Ocasio-Cortez, who won the primary the night Bowman was defeated.
Tuesday’s primary election reduced the group’s number of council members from nine to seven. The group’s original four members, elected at the same time in 2018, are expected to remain in their positions.
AIPAC denies accusations that it is trying to sow discord among Democrats by meddling in the Democratic primary, telling The Hill earlier this year that the group is “the largest PAC donor to Democratic candidates.”
“Our PAC supports the Democratic Party leadership and nearly half of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Congressional Black Caucus and Congressional Hispanic Caucus,” the group said in a statement. “In addition, our affiliated Super PAC backed many progressive Democratic candidates in the last election who defeated anti-Israel candidates in primaries, won in the general election, and are currently serving in Congress. We believe that supporting the Jewish state is fully consistent with progressive values.”
