Four years ago, Cori Bush rode a wave of activist energy and unseated a longtime House incumbent. Now her own congressional career is in jeopardy against a county prosecutor in a race that will test the Democratic base’s appetite for a disruptive "Squad" member as party leaders are tacking to the center. Bush’s opponent in next week’s primary, Wesley Bell, is casting the incumbent as ineffective and unnecessarily combative within her own party. He’s backed by pro-Israel groups and running on his record as a prosecutor in a community still reeling from a fatal police shooting 10 years ago, Politico reports. Speaking to five dozen supporters who’d gathered for a barbecue last weekend, Bell promised to be a constructive lawmaker: “If you call me, I’m picking the phone up.”
Bush’s opposition to the bipartisan infrastructure bill passed last Congress struck a nerve with some labor leaders, who felt their concerns about jobs were rebuffed by the progressive lawmaker. Although the war in Gaza has loomed over the race, it was the furthest thing from Bell’s supporters’ minds as they flipped hamburgers and turned hot dogs on the grill. For Delicia Simpson, 40, her decision to support Bell was entirely economic. “I’m going to vote my paycheck,” she said. Both candidates launched their political careers in the traumatic aftermath of the shooting of Michael Brown. Bush had been a frontline activist at the time; Bell won election to the Ferguson City Council and primaried the sitting county prosecutor in what was seen as a referendum on his handling of the shooting. It’s a painful legacy in the community that’s become a flashpoint in the closing days of one of the most closely contested House primaries this year. Bush has gone directly after Bell’s record, airing an ad featuring Michael Brown Sr. saying: “I feel like Wesley lied to us. He never brought charges against the killer.” It’s a claim Bell flatly denies. “The evidence isn’t there. It just isn’t there. And we can’t prosecute someone just because we just want to do it."