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Wesley Bell

U.S. House · MO-1 · Democrats · since 2025

also

Candidate for U.S. House · MO-1

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Biography

Overview

Wesley Bell is a Democrat representing Missouri's 1st congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2025. Before joining Congress, he served as prosecuting attorney for St. Louis County from 2019 to 2025. Bell is an attorney and educator who previously worked as a public defender and taught criminology at Florissant Valley Community College.

Career

As St. Louis County prosecutor, Bell implemented criminal justice reforms including declining to prosecute small marijuana possession cases, stopping prosecution of criminal child support cases, and declining to seek the death penalty despite public pressure. He reopened the investigation into Michael Brown's death but concluded, like his predecessor and the DOJ, that charges were not warranted. He vacated the murder conviction of Marcellus Williams based on evidence of innocence. In Congress, Bell has introduced legislation on DOJ transparency, FEMA operations, and school investment, and signed onto efforts to release the Epstein files.

Prior political experience

Bell was first elected St. Louis County prosecuting attorney in 2018, defeating long-time prosecutor Bob McCulloch in the Democratic primary. In 2024, Bell initially announced a challenge to U.S. Senator Josh Hawley but withdrew in late October 2023 to challenge incumbent Democrat Cori Bush for Missouri's 1st congressional district. Bell defeated Bush in the primary with 51.12% of the vote to Bush's 45.65%, and won the general election in November 2024.

Biographical material adapted from the Wikipedia article (retrieved April 29, 2026), available under CC BY-SA 4.0.

Ideology

Liberal–Conservative (DW-NOMINATE dim 1)

Liberal
Conservative
119th Congress-0.507

Secondary axis (DW-NOMINATE dim 2)(?)

−1
+1
+0.515
Source: Voteview DW-NOMINATE · 343 scored votes

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Officeholding history

TermSeatTerm datesTerminationPredecessorSuccessor
1stU.S. House MO-12025–presentIn progress——

Committee assignments

Current term legislation

Bills sponsored this term10

Bills cosponsored this term10

Elections

YearSeatResultVote shareField
——Pending——