ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — Fresh from a campaign trip to Kansas City, St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell is ditching his long-shot primary bid for the U.S. Senate and pivoting to run for Congress against two-term incumbent Congresswoman Cori Bush.
Bell announced Monday he is dropping out of the race to challenge Sen. Josh Hawley to go after Missouri’s 1st Congressional District. That district includes the City of St. Louis and most of northern St. Louis County.
Bell’s retreat from a statewide run in a Republican-dominated state puts him back on more comfortable footing near familiar voters who already know his record and resume.
His entrance also poses the most significant test for Bush, also a Democrat, since she toppled longtime Congressman Lacy Clay in 2020. Bush easily disposed of Sen. Steve Roberts in a Democratic primary in 2022.
"Our world is in a dangerous place and we need steady and effective leadership, and we aren't getting it here in the first district," Bell said in a press conference announcing the move.
He said there are other viable candidates for U.S. Senate, and he has gotten calls from the party to challenge Bush. He said he has not decided who to endorse in the Senate race.
Bell and Bush both made names for themselves during the protests that followed the 2014 police shooting of Mike Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and both unseated long-time establishment candidates to win their current offices.
Bell beat Robert “Bob” McCulloch to become St. Louis County’s prosecuting attorney after McCulloch’s 28 years at the helm.
Bush beat Rep. Lacy Clay, who had served the 1st Congressional District for 20 years.
Both ran against their establishment candidates on platforms of police reform following the controversial police shooting and protested in the streets of Ferguson.
Bell served as a city councilman in Ferguson during the protests.
Bell describes himself as a reasonable peacemaker; whereas Bush, who describes herself as a politician-activist (or politi-vist), rallied local residents to protest the systems underlying the criminal justice and economic systems.
Her agenda, which often registers among the more radical corners of Democratic thought in Congress, has been largely stymied during a period where neither party has held a commanding mandate on Capitol Hill.
Where Bush has called to “defund the police,” Bell has fought for greater law enforcement funding in county budgets.
Bush has taken a lot of heat following her comments regarding the bloodshed between Israel and Hamas in recent weeks. She wrote on X, “We can’t be silent about Israel’s ethnic cleansing campaign. Babies, dead. Pregnant women, dead. Elderly, dead. Generations of families, dead. Millions of people in Gaza with nowhere to go [are] being slaughtered. The U.S. must stop funding these atrocities against Palestinians.” She was also one of 10 members of Congress who voted no on supporting a resolution to support Israel following attacks by Hamas that left an estimated 1,400 Jews dead.
"I think that it's very clear from responses — from Democrats from local government all the way to D.C. — that that's not what Democrats feel is the appropriate response," Bell said Monday.
Bell served as a city councilman in Ferguson during the protests. His father was a police officer, and Bell became the first Black man to become the county’s top prosecutor during the 2018 election. Activists criticized McCulloch for not prosecuting the police officer who shot Brown, and Bell promised to reopen the case.
Bell ultimately announced there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing on the part of the police officer, and did not charge the officer.