US Elections

Rep. Wesley Bell Defeats Cori Bush in Missouri Democratic Primary Rematch

Bell's back-to-back primary victories over Bush consolidate a significant shift in Missouri's 1st Congressional District's Democratic representation, with redistricting and Bush's unresolved...

Gab-E Intelligence Platform · August 5, 2026

Rep. Wesley Bell (D-MO) won the Democratic primary in Missouri's 1st Congressional District on August 5, 2026, defeating former Rep. Cori Bush for the second consecutive election cycle, according to an ABC News projection. Bell first unseated Bush in the August 2024 Democratic primary, flipping the seat after Bush had held it since 2021.

Bush, who served one full term representing Missouri's 1st District, was first defeated by Bell in the August 6, 2024 primary. According to the Missouri Secretary of State's certified election results from that contest, Bell received approximately 51 percent of the vote to Bush's 44 percent. Final certified vote totals for the 2026 rematch had not been published by the Missouri Secretary of State's office as of this report's publication.

Bush's 2026 candidacy proceeded while a federal criminal case remained active against her. Federal prosecutors in the Eastern District of Missouri filed a superseding indictment against Bush in 2024 on charges including bribery and obstruction, according to publicly available court records in case no. 4:24-cr-00368 (E.D. Mo.). The disposition of that case as of the August 2026 primary is a matter of public court record; the docket would reflect any plea, trial verdict, or dismissal.

Bell, a former St. Louis County prosecutor who won election to the full congressional seat in November 2024, ran on a platform centered on public safety and economic development, according to his publicly filed campaign communications with the FEC (FEC Committee ID: C00810366). His 2026 campaign finance totals, including itemized receipts and disbursements, are available through FEC filings but had not reached their next quarterly deadline as of this publication.

What remains unknown at time of publication: the final certified vote margin in the 2026 primary, the current legal status of Bush's federal case, and whether Bush intends to mount any further electoral challenges. The Missouri Secretary of State's certified results and the Eastern District of Missouri federal court docket (case no. 4:24-cr-00368) are the public records that would answer these questions.

We Follow the Data, Not the Narrative

The Congressional Times exists because public records are public — and the analysis built from them should not be exclusive to those who can afford $60,000-a-year intelligence subscriptions.

Every story published in The Congressional Times is sourced to a verifiable public record: a court filing, a Senate lobbying disclosure, an FEC contribution record, a USASpending contract, or a verified news report. We state our sources inline. We show our math. When we are wrong, we say so publicly.

We do not editorialize in news coverage. We do not use loaded language. Both political parties are held to identical standards.

The Follow the Money investigations are the heart of this publication. Each begins with Gab-E Political Intelligence running against 10+ million government records before a single word of editorial is written.

How We Source, Verify, and Correct Our Work

Every factual claim in a Congressional Times story is checked against a primary source: a government filing, a court record, a direct quote, before publication. When a claim can't be verified or doesn't hold up as originally reported, we drop it or reframe it. We do not publish disputed claims as settled fact.

When we get it wrong: we correct the story directly, note the correction and date at the bottom of the piece, and update the record. We do not quietly edit and move on.

Bylines: stories with a named byline are written and fact-checked by that person. Stories without a byline are sourced from Gab-E Political Intelligence, our automated research platform, and are labeled as such.

Ownership: The Congressional Times is published by Gab-E Holdings LLC. Gab-E, our intelligence platform, powers our sourcing and research pipeline.

Corrections or concerns: support@gab-e.com

Rep. Wesley Bell Defeats Cori Bush in Missouri Democratic Primary Rematch

We Follow the Data, Not the Narrative

How We Source, Verify, and Correct Our Work

More From The Congressional Times