AIPAC Used Distorted Photo of Cori Bush in $7 Million Negative Ad Blitz

IN THE FIRST month of its spending in a Missouri congressional election, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee poured $3 million into the race to unseat Squad member Rep. Cori Bush, D-Mo.

AIPAC’s super PAC, United Democracy Project, has gone on to spend a total of $7 million so far to oust Bush. Its recent mailers, reviewed by The Intercept, show images of Bush with distorted features that make her forehead look bigger and elongate her features.

Bush condemned the ads as part of a trope of using racist caricatures to target candidates based on their ethnicity.

“It is shameful that, in 2024, our communities are still being targeted with such blatant racism from political campaigns, let alone in a Democratic primary,” Bush said in a statement to The Intercept. “The people of St. Louis deserve better than to see their first Black Congresswoman racistly distorted into a caricature — I shouldn’t have to ask my opponent to condemn his biggest funders for putting out an ad like this and to apologize to the people of this district.”