In his Democratic major problem to Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), Wesley Bell, the St. Louis County prosecutor, is elevating cash hand over fist — and never all of it from Democrats.
Bell’s newest marketing campaign finance filings embody donations from notable sources equivalent to Steven Tilley, a GOP former Missouri Home speaker who’s now a lobbyist, and Daniel Loeb, the billionaire founding father of the hedge fund Third Level, who has donated thousands and thousands to Republican causes.
David Steward, a billionaire tech CEO from St. Louis, has additionally supported Bell. Steward not too long ago served as the finance chair of an excellent PAC that supported Sen. Tim Scott’s (R-S.C.) run for president.
All advised, Bell raised greater than $65,000 from donors who additionally gave to one in every of Missouri’s two Republican senators, Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt, of their most up-to-date campaigns, or Missouri Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft, the main Republican candidate for governor.
The inflow of cash for Bell from donors who usually again Republicans comes after the prosecutor deserted a Senate marketing campaign towards Hawley with a purpose to problem Bush.
Bell jumped races in late October, a choice he partly credit to Bush’s stance on Israel’s army motion in Gaza. Shortly after Hamas’ Oct. 7 assault, Bush launched a decision for a cease-fire and condemned Israel’s retaliatory army motion as an “ethnic cleaning marketing campaign.”
Round that point, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the deep-pocketed pro-Israel lobbying group, unveiled a plan to spend as much as $100 million to unseat Bush and her fellow Israel critics. The group endorsed Bell in February.
“Wesley Bell is a progressive prosecutor who will get up for President Biden’s agenda and oppose MAGA extremists and Donald Trump ― and everybody who helps or donates to his marketing campaign is aware of that’s precisely what to anticipate from Wesley,” mentioned Anjan Mukherjee, an adviser to Bell’s marketing campaign. “Cori Bush has confirmed she would moderately get headlines and protest than do the work of getting progressive outcomes for St. Louis.”
Bell’s fundraising is a part of a development of Democratic major challengers drawing monetary help from Republican donors once they face off towards big-name progressives.
Bhavini Patel, a Pittsburgh-area councilmember who challenged “Squad” member Rep. Summer time Lee (D-Pa.) in her April major, obtained a six-figure increase from Republican billionaire Jeffrey Yass and an excellent PAC he funded — help that will have in the end backfired. Lee campaigned on the truth that her opponent appealed to one in every of Trump’s closest allies, and he or she beat Patel by a large margin.
Bush, a nurse, grew to become a political activist after the 2014 police killing of Mike Brown and the Black Lives Matter protests in Ferguson, Missouri. In 2020, with help from Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and progressive teams that helped elect different left-wing Squad members, Bush pulled off a stunning upset of longtime incumbent Rep. Lacy Clay Jr. She has turn into an advocate for Black maternal well being, abortion rights and diverting cash from legislation enforcement to public providers.
Bell’s political profession was solid in Ferguson, too, the place he grew to become a metropolis councilmember after the unrest. In 2018, Bell rode a wave of enthusiasm for progressive prosecutor candidates to turn into the St. Louis County prosecuting lawyer. Bell is campaigning on parts of his report, equivalent to his efforts to scale back the variety of individuals jailed for minor offenses. However some activists who helped elect him declare he did not differ a lot from his predecessors, beginning with when he declined to hunt expenses over Brown’s demise.
In deep-blue St. Louis, the winner of the August major is nearly definitely headed to Congress.
“My view is that Cori Bush is simply too excessive,” Larry Absheer, a St. Louis donor who crossed social gathering strains to donate to Bell, mentioned in an interview. “For no matter purpose, she’s on the anti-Israel bandwagon. Whereas Wesley, I’m certain he and I disagree on lots of issues, I feel he’d be a significantly better candidate. … He looks like an affordable younger man.”
Bush could also be a extra susceptible goal than different Squad members. Her 2021 vote towards the Biden administration’s Infrastructure Funding and Jobs Act angered some native unions, numerous which at the moment are endorsing Bell. Bush additionally got here below fireplace in 2022 for fundraising alongside a neighborhood activist who as soon as posted about destroying Israel “together with each Israeli in it.”
In January, studies revealed the Justice Division is investigating Bush’s use of marketing campaign funds to pay for safety providers, together with hiring her husband for safety work. A earlier investigation by the Workplace of Congressional Ethics concluded that the spending was applicable given the quantity of threats she confronted.
Fueled partly by AIPAC’s endorsement, Bell has far outpaced Bush in fundraising; his marketing campaign ended April with $1.1 million money available to her $528,000. Bell has acquired greater than $360,000 in particular person contributions earmarked as having been directed to his marketing campaign by AIPAC.
Bell “went from operating for Senate towards far-right Josh Hawley to courting Josh Hawley’s far-right donors as an alternative, in a run towards one in every of solely two federally elected Democrats in Missouri,” mentioned a marketing campaign spokesperson for Bush. “His candidacy is nothing greater than a Computer virus for extra right-wing extremism and can do nothing however harm communities like St. Louis that he’s auditioning to serve in Congress.”
Bush and different progressives have accused AIPAC of laundering Republican cash into their primaries. Its donors hail from each events, however a major quantity are GOP megadonors, equivalent to Residence Depot co-founder Bernie Marcus and hedge fund supervisor Paul Singer. The United Democracy Venture, AIPAC’s tremendous PAC, raised report donations final 12 months, beginning the election season with a whopping $41 million in prepared money.
Bush referred to as on Democratic major candidates to reject AIPAC’s help in a January interview with HuffPost.
“It’s merely not adequate for Democrats to run towards Donald Trump and his MAGA extremist allies whereas operating towards right-wing, dark-money teams like AIPAC,” she mentioned.
Nonetheless, her allies hope Bell’s Republican help will weaken his standing amongst Democratic voters. Though any registered voter can take part in Missouri’s open primaries, within the 2020 presidential election, 4 out of 5 voters in Missouri’s 1st District voted Democrat.
“Wesley Bell went from difficult Sen. Josh Hawley to being bankrolled by Hawley’s anti-abortion Republican donors,” mentioned Usamah Andrabi, the communications director for Justice Democrats, a grassroots group supporting a number of of the progressives below fireplace, together with Bush. “Bell dropped out of a race towards anti-abortion insurrectionist Hawley to run towards Missouri’s first Black congresswoman and an abortion rights champion — and now he shares donors with Hawley.”