Progressives have a win in Walz and a loss in Cori Bush, so what now?

For progressives, joy came in the morning to ease the sorrow that lasted for the night on Tuesday.

Left-wing Democrats and activists had lobbied hard to prevent Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro from becoming Vice President Kamala Harris’s running mate, largely because of his views about Israel and Palestine. In addition, they had criticized his support for school vouchers and his support for crackdowns on pro-Palestine campus protests, including at the private University of Pennsylvania.

It looked like progressives got what they wanted on Tuesday when Vice President Kamala Harris selected Governor Tim Walz of Minnesota to be her running mate. In the past, Walz has called humanitarian conditions in Gaza amid Israel’s war with Hamas “intolerable”. That endeared him to some younger Democrats even if Walz, like many other Democrats and Harris herself, remains firmly supportive of Israel.

But only a few hours later, progressives got a punch in the gut when Representative Cori Bush, a member of the Squad, lost her primary in Missouri’s 1st district to Wesley Bell. This comes just months after progressives faced a bruising loss when Representative Jamaal Bowman of New York lost his primary, which left the Squad and its allies demoralized.

As was the case in Bowman’s race, Bush faced an onslaught of money, largely from the super PAC for the American Israel Public Affairs Committee called the United Democracy Project. Indeed the only primary this cycle more expensive than Missouri’s 1st — which included more than $9 million in money from UDP — was Bowman’s, which had more than $14 million in money from UDP.

In her concession speech, Bush compared the onslaught of outside money to the January 6 insurrection and said she would