At Least Cori Bush Lost...Again

To all the victorious Democratic Socialists who won last night, please stand up and take a bow!

Not so fast, Cori Bush. 

Yes, I know. We lost the crown jewel of the night via the Michigan Senate race. But while DSA can revel in the moment for their first and only statewide victory, they also lost in several additional contests throughout the country, including the St. Louis primary that went overwhelmingly to incumbent Democratic congressman Wesley Bell. From the Missouri Independent: 

Incumbent U.S. Rep. Wesley Bell staved off former Congresswoman Cori Bush in the Democratic primary for the 1st Congressional District on Tuesday, ending the most expensive candidate primary in Missouri this year.

The Associated Press called the race for Bell shortly after 8 p.m.

Bell will take on one of two Republican candidates, Paul Berry III and Andrew Jones, neither of whom has formed a fundraising committee for their campaigns in the heavily Democratic district, and Libertarian Tom Schmitz in the November general election.

Bell and Bush’s political careers were shaped by the protest movement that erupted in Ferguson in 2014 and grew into a national reckoning over race and policing.

But for the past several years, one main issue is putting them at odds — Bell’s support for Israel and Bush’s advocacy for Palestinian liberation.

Bell’s backing from the American Israel Public Affairs Committee and other pro-Israel PACs led to his re-election spending to be seven times higher than efforts to re-elect Bush.

The 1st District race is the most expensive candidate primary in Missouri this year, with candidates and outside political action committees combining to spend $8.4 million — $7.2 million of that spent on Bell.

Bell’s campaign has spent almost $3 million over the past two years, including $864,000 on broadcast ads in advance of the primary. Bush, who has spent almost $1.2 million, has only been able to afford $66,400 for broadcast ads.

Funny how when a pro-Israeli sitting Congressman defeats the DSA-backed candidate we hardly hear anything about it. 

Because our media loves the Democrats in Disarray narrative. At a time when the Republicans are in lockstep with their fascist overlord, any small division of the Democratic Party has to be amplified. But as we saw last night in St. Louis, DSA is not an unstoppable machine. They haven't "taken over" the Democratic Party, no matter how badly our media wants this to happen. Counting El-Sayed's win, DSA now has a total of five candidates who have won primaries, with the other four House victories coming in ultra-gentrified districts. Sadly, the Wisconsin Democratic Party has royally fucked up its gubernatorial primary, so Francesca Hong may emerge as the party's nominee for governor. But like Abdul El-Sayed, she will face stiff competition from a Republican challenger in the general election. And with DSA having zero statewide victories and not understanding how to pivot to the center for a general election, both of those races are now in serious doubt for the Democratic Party. 

And even, even if El-Sayed and Hong somehow win their races, they'll quickly find themselves being held in check by the state and national party. El-Sayed will be on an island in the Senate. Hong will try to surround herself with DSA types but will quickly find that being governor is a lot more difficult than being a state assemblywoman. We're already seeing the glitter fade from Zohran Mamdani in New York City, and Hong's honeymoon period will be equally short. Because when you promise the moon, your far-left supporters won't settle for anything less. We saw how DSA types completely flopped when they took over the Nevada Democratic Party. Seeing them in charge of the state government of Wisconsin will lead to a similar result. 

Remember, there have been 32 red-to-blue flips this cycle, and all 32 of them were done by those pesky "normie" Democrats. LL shared with us that even Trump +15 districts in Texas are potentially in play. DSA may be getting the headlines, but regular Democrats are delivering the results. And while Congress will have a new Mean Girls club of a handful of democratic socialists come January, the ones ultimately delivering the speakership to Hakeem Jeffries will be moderate Democrats running on pragmatism rather than idealism. DSA may garner all the headlines, but it is the regular, salt-of-the-earth Dems who will flip the House and make Trump a lame duck president for his final two years. 

A feat much more important than a single primary win in August of 2026.