Wesley Bell Used $35,000 in Campaign Cash to Buy His Friend’s Dodge Durango

The congressman from St. Louis put some of AIPAC's money to an unusual use. He now faces a rematch with Cori Bush.

In the weeks before his 2024 primary election victory over then-Rep. Cori Bush in St. Louis, Wesley Bell’s campaign reported an expense in its federal elections filings. According to the documents, the campaign spent $35,086.86 on what it called “Campaign Auto.”

That auto, according to an associate of Bell’s, and subsequently confirmed to Drop Site by the Bell campaign, was an all-black Dodge Durango, and represents a highly unusual purchase for a campaign, particularly in its waning weeks. Even more unusually, the campaign listed Central Bank in St. Louis as the recipient of the funds, suggesting Bell’s campaign paid off somebody’s loan in order to acquire the vehicle.

That somebody, according to sources familiar with the purchase, was Clay Farmer, who worked with Bell in the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office and continues to work with Bell’s congressional office. A source close to Bell said that Farmer was not on staff at the time the vehicle was purchased from him, though he is now. Bell and Farmer, however, are known to be close friends.

On August 7, 2024, the day after the primary, the campaign dropped $430 getting the Durango detailed at Unique Auto Spa in St. Louis, the FEC filings show.

The campaign purchase raises a number of questions, including whether the price of $35,000 for a 2020 Durango in June 2024 was fair or inflated. (The campaign also spent more than $6,000 at the DMV in the weeks after the purchase, a pricey transfer effort.)

Federal Election Commission filings, accessed by Drop Site News

Last week, Cori Bush announced she would be challenging Bell in a rematch. The election will be held Tuesday, August 4, 2026.

During the last race, AIPAC – the American Israel Public Affairs Committee – funneled more than $3 million directly to Bell’s campaign, and spent nearly $9 million on a super PAC supporting him. Bell unseated Bush by around 7,000 votes.

Bell previously ran into political problems over a taxpayer-funded 2016 Chevy Tahoe he drove as St. Louis County prosecutor, racking up enough unpaid parking tickets that it made the local news in 2019.

A source close to Bell said that the Durango is still regularly driven by Bell staffer Farmer, who has served in Bell’s congressional office as outreach coordinator and special projects coordinator since the day Bell was sworn in in January 2025. “Wesley Bell strongly believes that taxpayer dollars should not be spent on campaign activity,” said Anjan Mukherjee, an adviser to the Bell campaign, in response to a request for comment. “Out of an abundance of caution for not misusing taxpayer money, Wesley may use the campaign vehicle to travel between campaign and/or official side events.” Farmer did not respond to a request for comment.

Bell and Farmer go back. After being elected prosecutor, Bell created a new position for him called “director of community engagement.” In 2019, in his budget request, Bell asked that Farmer be provided a 2020 Dodge Durango. Chris King, a spokesperson for the St. Louis County prosecutor’s office, looked into that hoped-for Durango and told Drop Site that, according to Bell, no Durango was ultimately provided by taxpayers to Farmer.

In October 2022, Farmer put a personal 2020 Durango up for sale on Facebook.

In September 2022, Bell used public money to order two new vehicles for himself and for Farmer. For himself, he bought a Ford Expedition Limited for $69,964 and for Farmer an Expedition XLT – unlike Bell’s, no leather seats – for $60,494, according to news reports at the time.

To find room in the budget, Bell had requested additional funds to hire new attorneys, and was given $700,000 in American Rescue Plan Act money for the purpose, local media reported. After hiring about half the attorneys he said he would, he shifted money from another fund for employees and used it to buy the vehicles.

The month after those new SUVs were ordered is when Farmer announced on Facebook he was getting rid of the Durango to make room for a new vehicle. In a reply on Facebook, he said that replacement vehicle would be a Denali Ultimate.

The Facebook sale apparently never happened. Nearly two years later, the Durango was sold to Bell’s campaign by Farmer.

The same month the campaign purchased the Durango in 2024, it began paying for car insurance, and continues to pay, confirming the car is still in use.

At an event in 2025, after constituents pressuring Bell on his fealty to Israel were roughed up, Bell can be seen leaving with staff in a Denali.