National focus intensifies on St. Louis congressional race

ST. LOUIS - As the Missouri primary election is less than 24 hours away, one race in St. Louis is making national history: the Democratic contest for the U.S. House of Representatives. 

FOX 2 caught up with incumbent Congresswoman Cori Bush and challenger St. Louis County Prosecutor Wesley Bell Monday. In a race where tens of millions of dollars in outside spending on political ads have dominated, both are making their final appeals to voters.

“I’m speaking loud. I’m standing up for those who are often times overlooked and most marginalized in our communities,” Bush told FOX 2. “I’m being vulnerable about it, but I'm also delivering back on the promise of trying to help us to thrive.”

“One campaign has been focused on division. One campaign, our campaign, has been focused on a vision,” Bell said, campaigning with a Pasta House lunch crowd. “This region’s been dying a slow death, losing population. Our educational systems have been struggling; we’ve been losing jobs; those are the things we’ve been focusing on.”

The company AdImpact, which tracks campaign spending, now lists the Bush and Bell, Missouri's 1st District, campaign as the second most expensive House primary race in history, at $18.2 million and counting. It trails only the New York 16th District race, in which Bush's ally and fellow progressive member Jamaal Bowman lost in June amid heavy spending against him from pro-Israeli political action committees (PACs).