Who is Wesley Bell, prosecutor who ousted Cori Bush

St. Louis County prosecutor Wesley Bell defeated Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) in a divisive primary election Tuesday, upsetting the progressive “squad” member in one of the most expensive races in the country.

A St. Louis-area native, Bell made his start as a public defender after attending University of Missouri law school and later joining the city council of Ferguson. His campaign site emphasized his community work during and after the 2015 Ferguson protests over the police killing of Michael Brown.

“Wesley worked directly to calm tensions between residents and the police — sometimes physically standing between protestors and police,” Bell’s site reads. “On the Council, Wesley worked with the Department of Justice to reform Ferguson’s criminal justice system through police and court reform.”

Those same 2015 protests gave the rise to Bush, who quickly became a prominent community activist before she ousted a long-time incumbent Democrat for Congress in 2018. That same year, Bell was elected county prosecutor in his own upset of an incumbent.

Bell’s tenure as county prosecutor was viewed favorably in comparison to his controversial city counterpart, Kim Gardner, who resigned last year after allegations of incompetence.

His campaign ran on standard Democratic issues, criminal justice reform, protecting voting rights and abortion access among others — not dissimilar from Bush’s positions — though the race became defined by each candidate’s stance toward Israel.

Bush was harshly criticized for her outspoken criticism of Israel’s war in Gaza. The "squad" member called the ongoing war “Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign,” and earlier this year introduced the Ceasefire Now Resolution. Some of her rhetoric has been met with backlash from other congressional members, but also constituents in her own district.

“I think [her] comments show a lack of understanding of the nuance and complexities of an issue that’s literally hundreds of years in the making,” Bell said when he announced his campaign. 

The pro-Israel group American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) spent over $8.5 million opposing Bush and backing Bell in the primary. It’s the second the time group successfully ousted a squad member over their Israel stance, after Rep. Jamaal Bowman (D-N.Y.) last month.

Bell has denied being recruited by AIPAC to run against Bush and said he has never directly communicated with the group.

A total $18 million was spent on the primary race, the second most of any Democratic primary ever, only following Bowman’s.