‘Squad’ rallies behind Cori Bush ahead of competitive primary

“Squad” House Democrats joined a campaign Zoom call for Rep. Cori Bush (D-MO) on Monday to rally support and “outwork the hate” from pro-Israel groups funneling millions into the race, arguing she brings life to the “hollow” walls of Congress.

Bush is facing a competitive primary challenge Tuesday from St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Wesley Bell, who has shown he is on track to oust the congresswoman according to polling as centrist Democrats continue to face backlash from their anti-Israel comments and support for a ceasefire.

To rally supporters ahead of the primary, the congresswoman’s campaign held a “Get Out the Vote: Rally with Cori Bush!” Zoom event with appearances from “Squad” members Reps. Ilhan Omar (D-MN), Jamaal Bowman (D-NY), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), Rashida Tlaib (D-MI), Summer Lee (D-PA), and more.

Bowman led the group in condemning the influence and spending by pro-Israel organizations such as the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, whose PAC, United Democracy Front, has spent $7 million to oust the Missouri congresswoman. Ad expenditures in Missouri’s 1st Congressional District hit nearly $17 million as of Monday.

“We cannot allow people who support genocide and ethnic cleansing and settler colonialism and white supremacy to push someone like Cori Bush out of Congress,” Bowman said. “No, no, no, no, no, hell no.”

In June, Bowman became the first House Democrat and first incumbent to lose his primary after AIPAC and its allies dumped millions into the race to support Bowman’s challenger, George Latimer — making it the most expensive primary contest in U.S. history. 

“I know what it feels like to be constantly bombarded with ads and mailers and lies and BS that completely distorts who you are in your record,” Bowman said.

“Congress don’t even deserve you, quite frankly,” Bowman added. “But it needs you. It needs you, and we all need you. I want everyone on this call to understand how important it is for us to have Cori Bush in Congress. That place is hollow. It has no soul. It has no love for marginalized people, and it’s the exact reason we need to have Cori Bush in Congress. It’s why we need to Squad in Congress.”

Lee, who survived her primary despite an influx of funding from AIPAC, condemned a mail ad in which United Democracy Front allegedly altered an image of Bush to elongate features and modify her skin color. The UDF has denied the allegations.

“Everybody who came to Pittsburgh remembers the ads that came down,” said Lee, who became the first black woman to serve in Pennsylvania’s congressional delegation in 2022. “Everybody remembers what it was like to wake up and see 15 ads every 30 minutes, to get five mailers one day, to see our images distorted, to see our skin darkened.”

“We know what they want to do is they want to crush our morale, and what we have to make sure that we do is we send the messages that they cannot take our soul, they cannot defeat the spirit that we have in this movement, that the spirit is so much more and so much bigger than what they can afford to spend money on,” Lee added. “And that’s what they’re going to learn tomorrow.”

Tlaib took a shot at Bell, who has been the beneficiary of $8 million in ad spending by UDF, according to AdImpact.

“Her opponent don’t have no field game,” Tlaib said. “I was there. I saw it. I looked, I looked, I looked. When they don’t have a field game, that’s disrespectful. That’s disrespectful. Go ahead, get your little billionaires to send out ads attacking this beautiful black woman. Earned every ounce of her being in Congress, she earned it. She wasn’t handed it.”

In the 2022 midterm elections, Bush outspent her more centrist Democratic opponent 5-to-1 and easily won the primary. However, she is losing steam against Bell, who has outraised Bush 2-to-1 and leads Bush by 6 points, 48% to 42%, according to a poll from the Mellman Group on behalf of the Democratic Majority for Israel PAC.

The primary will take place Tuesday, with polls closing at 8 p.m. EST.