Cori Bush
D · U.S. House, MO-1 · Tier 6
Tier 6, “Most critical of Israel / supports Palestine”
Former MO-1 congresswoman who lost an Aug 4, 2026 rematch for her old St. Louis seat to Wesley Bell, who had unseated her in 2024 after AIPAC’s super PAC spent about $8.6M against her and for Bell — one of the priciest House primaries ever (“AIPAC, I’m coming to tear your kingdom down,” she said conceding). She was one of eight Democrats to vote against additional Iron Dome funding in 2021, wants the U.S. to stop “the flow of weapons to the Israeli government,” introduced a 2023 Gaza ceasefire resolution, and calls the war a genocide and ethnic cleansing. She was an original cosponsor of the Nakba and right-of-return resolution in 2022, 2023 and 2024, called in May 2026 for “the recognition of Palestinian refugees’ right to return,” and backed BDS by name on her 2020 campaign site. Sanders, Rashida Tlaib, Justice Democrats, Our Revolution and the St. Louis DSA chapter were behind her; AIPAC's United Democracy Project put more than $3 million into the race in July 2026 alone.
A 6. She backs the Palestinian right of return in office and in her own words: she was an original cosponsor of the Nakba and right-of-return resolution three years running (2022, 2023 and 2024), and in May 2026 called for “the recognition of Palestinian refugees’ right to return, an end to apartheid.” Her 2020 campaign site backed BDS by name — “nonviolent actions like the BDS movement are so important.” In Congress she led the October 2023 Ceasefire Now resolution, was one of eight Democrats to vote against the $1 billion for Iron Dome in 2021 and one of four Nays on the 2024 Human Shields Act, and voted against the April 2024 aid package. She calls what is happening in Gaza genocide and wants the U.S. to stop “the flow of weapons to the Israeli government.” The counter-case: Mondoweiss reported in 2020 that the BDS passage had apparently been deleted from her site, and her campaign then said she has “always been sympathetic to the BDS movement,” so the right of return carries most of the weight.
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elect26 places 2026 midterm candidates on a six-tier spectrum, from 1 (most pro-Israel) to 6 (most critical of Israel).