It’s unusual, but it could be illuminating: a sitting congressman wants to debate the candidate he defeated two years ago, and who is challenging him now in an effort to regain her seat. “Wesley Bell challenges Cori Bush to a debate series,” by Ryan Krull, St. Louis Mag, April 17, 2026:
Congressman Wesley Bell says he wants to debate.
Bell, who is locked in a rematch with Cori Bush, the former congresswoman he toppled two years ago, issued a statement this morning, saying that he wants to have three televised debates with Bush ahead of the critical August 4 primary.
“As the Democratic primary election draws closer, he strongly believes that voters deserve the opportunity to know where both he and his opponent, Cori Bush, stand on the issues that matter most,” said campaign spokeswoman Jordan Blase….
A spokesperson for the Bush campaign told SLM in an emailed statement, “The congresswoman absolutely looks forward to participating in televised debates during which she can display the contrast between her dedication to fighting for the people of St. Louis and the incumbent’s MAGA billionaire-backed policy platform that is driving up the cost of everyday expenses and allowing ICE to tear our communities apart.” The statement went on to reference a raucous town hall that Bell hosted last August, at the end of which multiple were shoved by security urging them to leave. Bush’s statement asked Bell to commit to the safety of all who attend the future Bell-Bush debates….
Cori Bush, the Missouri congresswoman who left office in January 2025, was a member of The Squad and is virulently anti-Israel — as much as are her former fellow Squad members, Muslims Ilhan Omar (D-Mogadishu) and Rashida Tlaib (D-Khan Younis). In early August 2024, Bell defeated Bush in the Democratic primary. Bell, a pro-Israel candidate, was supported with $8.5 million from AIPAC. Bush has been furious ever since. She vowed at the time of her defeat to carry on her fight against Israel, though without her seat in Congress, she has done so without her bully pulpit.
Bush has been talking for quite some time about the need to impose a total arms embargo on Israel, which would essentially leave the Jewish state dangerously vulnerable at a time when has been forced to fight a seven-front war, in Gaza, Yemen, Lebanon, Iraq, Syria, the West Bank, and Iran. This August 2024 article states that Bush “lamented not running for president during a new interview, saying that she wants to see the White House place an arms embargo on Israel.”
When she said this, Cori Bush had just been defeated, by a wide margin, in a primary. Yet her exaggerated sense of her own popularity and importance was positively hallucinatory. She lamented not having run for president, though she had not a chance in hell of receiving any support, money, or media attention. She was politically a spent force. But she dared to suggest, with a straight face, that she made a mistake in not running for president.
That August 2024 article also says:
Bush has established herself as one of the most vocal critics of Israel in the US Congress. Only nine days after Hamas’ Oct. 7 slaughter of roughly 1,200 people in southern Israel, Bush called for an “immediate ceasefire” between Israel and the Palestinian terrorist group. As the war dragged on, Bush’s rhetoric toward Israel sharpened, with the congresswoman accusing the Jewish state of committing “genocide” in Gaza and “apartheid” in the West Bank. Bush has also accused Israel of inflicting a “famine” in Gaza without providing evidence.
Bush tried early on to rescue Hamas from the IDF, by calling just nine days after the October 7 atrocities for a “ceasefire” in Gaza that would have halted the IDF’s attack on the jihad terror group. And soon after that she began flinging her idiotic and ugly charges at Israel for committing “apartheid” in the West Bank and for committing “genocide” in Gaza.
Cori Bush has made enemies forever not just among Jews, but among all those non-Jews, of whom there are a great many, who support Israel just as fervently. If she loses to Wesley Bell yet again, perhaps she can ask Nihad Awad for a job at CAIR, suggesting she be hired to conduct outreach to black Americans. Or she might end up as a staff member — what a comedown from being a congresswoman — for Rashida Tlaib or Ilhan Omar. Or she could return to being the pastor of the Kingdom Embassy International Church, the church that Cori Bush founded in order to give herself a job.
Cori Bush had her brief moment in the congressional sun. But that’s all over now, and decent people hope there will not be a second act. No wonder she’s so full of hate and hysteria.
Edmund Carey says
I’m Canadian and not up on everything to do with American politics. I hadn’t actually heard of this person before. She sounds like a real peach. I hope she disappears like dew off a morning rose.
somehistory says
bush is a racist who was a part of the “squad’ of idiots. She wants the power and the money she can get from “serving” as well as any she can make on the side.
Wellington says
Indeed, somehistory. Indeed. To the extent that people like Cori Bush get their way then to that very extent will good things die, for example true freedom and even America.
Frankly, I am so tired of these vile, ignorant and stupid people such as this woeful woman. As with Muslims, she will use freedom to destroy freedom. Yuck!
somehistory says
Thank you. Wellington. I, too, am tired of the evil and the stupid.
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Why is he challenging her to any debate, instead of just ignoring her and locking her out? His party is more on her side than it is on his
Northern Virginiastan says
Angry Black Women from St. Louis:
Cori Bush
Maxine Waters
Jasmine Crockett