Ferguson thrust them into activism. Now, Cori Bush and Wesley Bell battle for a congressional seat

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Cori Bush and Wesley Bell both honed their leadership skills in Ferguson, Missouri, in the unrest that followed Michael Brown’s death at the hands of a police officer 10 years ago. On Tuesday, they’re opposing each other in a closely watched Democratic congressional primary.

Bush is facing a big money challenge in her bid for a third term representing Missouri’s 1st Congressional District, which includes St. Louis and a portion of the suburbs that includes Ferguson. The American Israel Public Affairs Committee’s super political action committee alone has spent $8.5 million to try and oust Bush over her criticism of Israel in the aftermath of the October attack by Hamas.

Friday marks the 10th anniversary of Brown’s death. The Black 18-year-old was walking with a friend on Aug. 9, 2014, when a white officer, Darren Wilson, confronted them. Wilson said he fired in self-defense because Brown was so enraged. Some witnesses said Brown, who was unarmed, had his hands up in surrender. Wilson was cleared of wrongdoing and resigned, and Brown’s death led to months of protests.

Bush and Bell both became active, but in different ways.

Bush, 48, was a protest leader. She was outspoken and critical of how police and the courts treated Black people. Her activism prompted an unsuccessful run against longtime incumbent 1st District Democrat William Lacy Clay in 2018, before she defeated him in 2020. She easily won reelection in 2022.

Bell, 49, began hosting conversations about community policing after Brown’s death. The lawyer, who previously served as a municipal prosecutor and judge, ran successfully for a seat on the Ferguson City Council before defeating seven-term incumbent St. Louis County Prosecuting Attorney Bob McCulloch in the August 2018 Democratic primary.

As prosecutor, Bell reopened an examination into Brown’s death. He announced in July 2020 that while the investigation didn’t exonerate Wilson, there wasn’t enough evidence to charge him.

“My heart breaks” for Brown’s parents, Bell said at the time. “I know this is not the result they were looking for and that their pain will continue forever.”

Brown’s father, Michael Brown Sr., is featured in an ad for Bush.

“He used my family for power,” Brown says of Bell in the ad. “And now he’s trying to sell out St. Louis.”

If Bush loses, she’d be the second member of the progressive congressional group known as the “Squad” to fall in a primary this year. In June, United Democracy Project — AIPAC’s super PAC — spent nearly $15 million to help defeat U.S. Rep. Jamaal Bowman, another Israel critic. Bowman lost to George Latimer, a pro-Israel centrist in New York.

In October, Bush called the Israeli retaliation an “ethnic cleansing campaign.” Soon after the Hamas attack on Israel, Bush wrote on social media that Israel’s “collective punishment against Palestinians for Hamas’s actions is a war crime.”

Her comments prompted backlash, even among some supporters in her district. Bell, who had been planning a Senate run against incumbent Republican Josh Hawley, instead opted to challenge Bush. He told The Associated Press that Bush’s comments about Israel were “wrong and offensive.”

Bush responded by saying that the donors behind AIPAC support former President Donald Trump and other Republicans.

“This is only the beginning,” Bush told the AP. “Because if they can unseat me, then they’re going to continue to come after more Democrats.”

Bush’s campaign has focused on what she’s accomplished for St. Louis. She said her efforts have brought $2 billion to the 1st District and that it was her protest on the steps of the Capitol in 2021 that helped extend the federal eviction moratorium as part of the COVID-19 pandemic, aiding thousands of St. Louisans.

Bell has touted his own progressive credentials. He noted that as a prosecutor he has said he will not prosecute any abortion cases in a state that bans the procedure in most instances. He created diversion programs to point people with mental health and substance abuse problems toward treatment instead of jail. And his office has expanded efforts to examine potential cases of wrongful convictions.

Meanwhile, in Missouri’s 3rd District, the retirement of veteran U.S. Rep. Blaine Luetkemeyer could provide something of a test of Trump’s endorsement power.

Trump endorsed former state Sen. Bob Onder in the GOP primary in the heavily-Republican district. Luetkemeyer is supporting another former state senator, Kurt Schaefer.