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On her 48th birthday, Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) celebrated by campaigning. Yes, there was cake, and there was singing, and there was a DJ, but there was also—a little under three weeks out from a heated Democratic primary—canvassing in the sweltering heat.

The primary has been cast as another test of how the Democrat Party responds to Israel’s war on Gaza. Bush, a member of the Squad, has been among the loudest voices calling for America to push harder for a ceasefire. United Democracy Project—a super-PAC affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee—has spent more than $7 million against Bush. The MO-01 race is already the fifth-most-expensive House primary in US history.

Late last year, St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell dropped out of his bid to dethrone Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri to challenge Bush. Some speculated he was recruited by AIPAC. A recently leaked phone call between Bush and Bell published by Drop Site News shows Bell promising he would not run against her: “I’m telling you on my word I am not running against you. That is not happening,” Bell is reported to have said. Four months later, he changed his mind.

Despite both coming of age as politicians during Ferguson—and despite the fact that in their campaign literature, both candidates label themselves the “real progressive” here—Bell’s challenge is firmly from the center. “He’s going to run as a Biden Democrat…as a Democratic team player,” Missouri Independent columnist Jeff Smith, a former state senator who used to represent parts of Bush’s district, told us in early 2024. “There’s a constituency for that, in particular among older voters, white and Black.”

After the defeat of Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) by an AIPAC-funded challenger in New York, many are worried. Will Bush be the latest member of the Squad to lose? The race is shaping up to define how Democrats deal with both post-Ferguson politics and members vocal against the party’s mostly uncritical support of Israel.

Bush’s political career was born in the streets of Ferguson, fighting against police brutality. Her staunch advocacy for a ceasefire, years later, brings those same values beyond US borders. “St. Louis is my priority, but the world is also on my back, and in my head and in my heart,” Bush said at a rally. Those values carried her to an easy reelection in 2020.........

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