St. Louis Democratic House primary exposes party rifts over Israel

+ Louis Democratic House primary exposes party rifts over Israel July 24, 20265:17 PM ET Heard on All Things Considered By Jason Rosenbaum St.

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+ Sponsor Message Transcript AILSA CHANG, HOST: Missouri is home to a closely watched Democratic congressional primary. It's a solid blue district that includes St. Louis, so whoever wins this race will likely go on to serve in Congress. This year features a rematch between former Congresswoman Cori Bush and current Congressman Wesley Bell. Bell unseated Bush in a primary just two years ago, and beyond more local issues, one of their main points of contention has been military support for Israel.

+ Both candidates appeared together on St. Louis Public Radio this afternoon. Jason Rosenbaum hosted that joint appearance and joins us now. Hey, Jason. JASON ROSENBAUM, BYLINE: Thank you so much for having me. CHANG: Thanks for being with us. So I understand that this is one of, like, the first media appearances where both candidates were in the same room with each other, and it's no secret that they strongly disagree with each other. So what was the vibe like today? ROSENBAUM: It was tense, to put it mildly, and there's a significant amount of animosity between Cori Bush and Wesley Bell. And there were a lot of fiery parts of this joint appearance, including this portion, where Bush talked about how Bell didn't immediately endorse Kamala Harris for president in 2024 when Joe Biden dropped out of the presidential race. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT) CORI BUSH: You see that he didn't answer your question about Kamala Harris and whether he endorsed her initially or not. WESLEY BELL: Oh, I did endorse her. I've worked for Kamala Harris, and I... BUSH: No, no. Don't interrupt me. BELL: Let me be clear. BUSH: Don't interrupt me. BELL: You interrupted me. BUSH: Don't interrupt me. BELL: You - I made it clear. I've not only worked for her, I... BUSH: Did you endorse her? ROSENBAUM: OK, OK. BUSH: Did you endorse her... BELL: Yes. BUSH: ...Immediately? No, you did not. BELL: Yes. BUSH: My team - drop the video... ROSENBAUM: OK. BUSH: ...Because now he's changing history. CHANG: Wow, fiery is right. You had to mediate between that? ROSENBAUM: Yeah. CHANG: (Laughter). ROSENBAUM: It was like mediating between my kids. CHANG: (Laughter) Oh, no. ROSENBAUM: And to be clear, both Bush and Bell endorsed Harris' presidential campaign. But Bush has stood by her criticism that Biden's administration handled Israel's military actions in Gaza in a poor way. And that was definitely a major flashpoint... CHANG: Yeah. OK. ROSENBAUM: ...In this campaign. CHANG: Say more about that. What did they have to say about Gaza? ROSENBAUM: There was a lot of debate over military support for Israel. Bush noted that Bell has been the beneficiary of millions of dollars worth of ads from pro-Israel groups like AIPAC. And while other members of the House Democratic Caucus have voted to cut off military aid for Israel, Bell has voted against those moves, and he reiterated that today. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT) BELL: I am no fan of Bibi Netanyahu, but we're still going to stand with our allies, and when we disagree - there's going to be disagreements, and I've been able to say to his face of things that I disagree with him. ROSENBAUM: And when I asked him, Bell declined to call Israel's actions a genocide. CHANG: And what did Bush have to say? ROSENBAUM: Bush has unequivocally said she would cut off military aid, especially after Israel's military operations in Gaza and Lebanon have killed tens of thousands of civilians. (SOUNDBITE OF ARCHIVED NPR CONTENT) BUSH: As stated by Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, a genocide is happening in Gaza, stated by all of those different organizations and more. Yes. Now, funding for other things that they may need - I have no problem with that. ROSENBAUM: The Israeli government disputes the idea that they're committing a genocide and say its target is Hamas. Bush's comments come as polling shows a decline in support for Israel among Americans, especially those who are young and identify as Democrats. CHANG: OK, so a lot of talk about Israel today. What about other issues closer to home that came up? ROSENBAUM: St. Louis is still recovering from a deadly tornado that destroyed thousands of homes last May and inflicted several billion dollars worth of damage, and Bell and other members of Missouri's delegations are trying to get anywhere from a billion to $1.5 billion to rebuild. Bush says she was adept at getting disaster relief, and she - when she was in Congress and would do so again. And in the meantime, groups like Democratic Socialists for America are supporting Bush. Bell has the backing of Democratic leaders like Hakeem Jeffries and former speaker Nancy Pelosi. It's another test of what direction Democratic voters want to take. CHANG: That is St. Louis Public Radio's Jason Rosenbaum. Thank you, Jason. ROSENBAUM: Thank you for having me. Copyright &copy; 2026 NPR. All rights reserved. Visit our website terms of use and permissions pages at www.npr.org for further information. Accuracy and availability of NPR transcripts may vary. Transcript text may be revised to correct errors or match updates to audio. Audio on npr.org may be edited after its original broadcast or publication. The authoritative record of NPR’s programming is the audio record. 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