(C) Common Dreams
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Cori Bush Gets Worrying Sign Ahead of Missouri Primary: Poll [1]
['Rachel Dobkin', 'Avi Shafran', 'Yaakov Katz']
Date: 2024-06-26 11:54:20-04:00
Representative Cori Bush, a Missouri Democrat, has received a worrying sign from a recent poll ahead of the state's primary.
On Tuesday, Representative Jamaal Bowman, a New York Democrat, became the first member of the group of progressive House Democrats known as "the Squad" to lose a seat. On August 6, Bush, another Squad member, will try to retain her seat in Missouri's primary. A recent poll showed her opponent, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, has made major gains and is ahead by 1 percentage point.
The Mellman Group poll, commissioned for DMFI PAC, a pro-Israel political action committee, found that 43 percent of likely Democratic primary voters support Bell while 42 percent support Bush. Meanwhile, 11 percent of voters are still undecided, and 4 percent support other candidates on the ballot.
The poll was conducted from June 18 to 22 and surveyed 400 voters in Missouri's 1st Congressional District, representing the likely Democratic primary electorate. It has a margin of error of plus or minus 4.9 percent.
Meanwhile, Bell had a 10-point lead (49 to 39 percent) among the most regular primary voters, which the poll described as those who voted in three of the most recent primary elections.
Representative Cori Bush attends a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee on March 12. On August 6, she will try to retain her seat in Missouri's Democratic primary, where she is being challenged by St.... Representative Cori Bush attends a hearing of the House Judiciary Committee on March 12. On August 6, she will try to retain her seat in Missouri's Democratic primary, where she is being challenged by St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell. More Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images
This is still an extremely close race, with a dramatic shift in favor of Bell from just a few months ago. In its release of the June poll, the Mellman Group cited a January poll that showed Bush with 45 percent of the vote and Bell with only 29 percent.
Newsweek reached out to Bell campaign via email for comment.
A major factor in Bowman's unsuccessful reelection campaign was his criticism of Israel in its war with Hamas. His opponent, Westchester County Executive George Latimer—who expressed his support for Israel's right to self-defense and a two-state solution to the region's conflicts—won after receiving $14.5 million from pro-Israel groups.
Like other members of the Squad, Bush has condemned the Palestinian civilian casualties in the conflict and called for an immediate ceasefire. Since the October 7, 2023, attack by Hamas that killed 1,200 Israelis, over 37,000 Palestinians have died in the war, according to Gaza Health Ministry figures reported by the Associated Press. About 250 Israelis were taken hostage in October and roughly 80 remain in Gaza, with 116 freed.
Bell, meanwhile, has taken a pro-Israel stance, saying that the nation has a right to self-defense and promising to "make sure the United States remains Israel's strongest ally," according to his campaign's website. August's Missouri primary will show if Bush, like Bowman, is unable to keep her seat and what this may mean for progressive Democrats after criticizing Israel's conduct of the war.
While the Biden administration has stood by Israel, saying it has the right to defend itself, it has stressed the need for peace. In late May, President Joe Biden unveiled a three-part ceasefire proposal. While Hamas said it "positively views" the plan, neither it nor Israel has formally agreed to the deal.
In a Wednesday press release, Bush reacted to Bowman's primary loss. She wrote that the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a pro-Israel lobbying group that spent over $14 million to support the race's victor, George Latimer, and its allies showed "just how desperate these billionaire extremists are in their attempts to buy our democracy, promote their own gain, and silence the voices of progress and justice."
Bush continued: "St. Louis will not be silenced or sold out. We will rise up, louder and stronger than ever to show that our voices, our votes, and our values are not for sale. We will fight with everything we have to secure our democracy, to protect our reproductive freedoms and to deliver living wages, housing, community safety, Medicare for All, a Green New Deal, and union jobs for everyone in our communities.
"We will continue to fight for the future St. Louis deserves and show that organized people beats organized money. Because St. Louis is not for sale," Bush said.
Update 6/26/24, 3:08 p.m. ET: This story has been updated with comments from a Cori Bush press release.
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[1] Url:
https://www.newsweek.com/cori-bush-wesley-bell-missouri-primary-poll-1917731
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