Missouri voters reject the Amendment 3 abortion ban and the Trump-backed congressional map

Missouri voters said no twice on Tuesday night. They rejected Amendment 3, which would have repealed the abortion-rights amendment they approved in 2024 and replaced it with a ban that allowed limited exceptions. They also rejected Proposition A, the referendum on the congressional map that Republican lawmakers drew in a 2025 special session at President Trump's urging. The Associated Press called the map vote at 9:59 p.m. Central time and the abortion vote at 10:18 p.m., according to St. Louis Public Radio and KCUR.

With all 3,214 precincts reporting in unofficial counts carried by Leader Publications in Jefferson County, Amendment 3 lost 1,173,172 to 941,065, or about 55.4% to 44.5%. Proposition A lost 1,273,815 to 785,969, about 61.8% to 38.1%, by the same outlet's count. Those are unofficial totals. Local election boards have two weeks to certify, and the state canvass is due by Dec. 8, as St. Louis Public Radio's certification explainer describes.

Our pre-election report on Missouri's Amendment 3 and the map referendum found the abortion question tied in the final public poll. The result was not close. This story covers what passed and failed, how the measures got to the ballot, what each side argued, and what the votes change.

Five statewide measures, three results against the legislature

Missourians decided five constitutional questions and referendums on Tuesday. Two were written by the legislature and lost. One was a referendum on a law the legislature passed, and that law lost too. A citizen initiative that limits the legislature's power to undo voter-approved measures passed. A legislative amendment on county sheriffs passed by a narrow margin that could still move during the canvass.

Sources: complete unofficial statewide totals reported by Leader Publications for Amendment 3, Proposition A, Amendment 6 and Amendment 7, and by KQ2 in St. Joseph for Amendment 8, whose figures were updated at 12:14 a.m. Central on Nov. 4. The ballot language for each measure is on the Missouri Secretary of State's 2026 ballot measures page. We could not open the state's own results site, which redirected back to its index page when we tried.

Amendment 8 passed by about 40,800 votes out of more than 2.06 million cast, according to KQ2. No outlet we read reported an AP call on it. That margin is about two percentage points, and it is the one result in the table that a canvass could plausibly change.

Proposition A (map)

61.8%

Amendment 7 (tax fund)

60.5%

Amendment 3 (abortion)

55.4%

Amendment 8 (sheriffs)

49%

Amendment 6 (initiatives)

40%

Source: Leader Publications, KQ2

Show the numbers

Measure	No vote
Proposition A (map)	61.8%
Amendment 7 (tax fund)	60.5%
Amendment 3 (abortion)	55.4%
Amendment 8 (sheriffs)	49%
Amendment 6 (initiatives)	40%

What Amendment 3 would have done

The 2024 amendment, also numbered 3, added Article I, Section 36 to the state constitution. It guarantees a right to reproductive freedom, including abortion until fetal viability. It passed with 51.6% of the vote and made Missouri the first state to end an abortion ban at the ballot box, as KCUR notes.

The 2025 legislature answered with House Joint Resolution 73, sponsored by Rep. Ed Lewis, a Republican from Moberly. The House passed it 103 to 51 on April 17, 2025, and the Senate passed it 21 to 11 on May 14, according to Ballotpedia's record of the measure. The measure would have repealed Section 36 and replaced it with a ban that allowed abortion in medical emergencies, for fetal anomalies, and for rape or incest before 12 weeks. It would have let the legislature regulate abortion, required parental consent for minors, and written the state's existing ban on gender transition procedures for minors into the constitution. Under current statute, the ban on puberty blockers and hormones for minors expires in August 2027, while the surgery ban is permanent, KCUR reports.

The ballot wording went through three versions. A Cole County judge ruled in September 2025 that Secretary of State Denny Hoskins's first summary was unfair. On Dec. 4, 2025, the Missouri Court of Appeals, Western District, found that both the state's summaries failed to tell voters that the measure repealed the 2024 amendment, and it certified language that began with that repeal, St. Louis Public Radio reported at the time. The first bullet voters saw on Tuesday read: "Repeal the 2024 voter-approved Amendment providing reproductive healthcare rights, including abortion through fetal viability."

What Proposition A would have done

Proposition A was a veto referendum on House Bill 1 from the 2025 second extraordinary session. Gov. Mike Kehoe called that session after Trump posted on Aug. 21, 2025, that "Missouri is now in," and he signed the map on Sept. 28, 2025. His signing statement thanked "state legislators, our congressional delegation, and President Trump in getting this map to my desk." The map split Kansas City three ways and was designed to turn the 5th District, held by Democrat Emanuel Cleaver, into a Republican seat, giving the party seven of eight districts.$

The group People Not Politicians submitted more than 305,000 signatures on Dec. 9, 2025, far more than the 106,384 to 115,720 valid signatures required, according to Ballotpedia's referendum page. What followed was a year of litigation over whether the signatures suspended the map and whether a map could be put to referendum at all. The Missouri Supreme Court ruled unanimously on Sept. 3, 2026, that the referendum belonged on the ballot and that the 2022 map governed the 2026 election. Federal courts twice ordered the 2025 map used anyway. The U.S. Supreme Court stayed those orders, most recently on Sept. 25, in an unsigned order that said "as a matter of state law, the 2022 map, not the 2025 map, must be used in the 2026 congressional election," as Newsweek reported. One practical result: the August primary ran on the 2025 lines and the November general ran on the 2022 lines.

A no vote on Tuesday kept the 2022 map in place. St. Louis Public Radio reports that the 2025 lines will not take effect for 2028 either. Cleaver, meanwhile, won reelection in the 5th District over Republican Rick Brattin, KCUR reported. Results for that race are on our Missouri 5th District page, and the 2nd District race between Rep. Ann Wagner$ and Democrat Fred Wellman, which St. Louis Magazine said outlets called for Wellman just after 10 p.m., is on our Missouri 2nd District page.

What the campaigns argued

Supporters of Amendment 3 argued that voters in 2024 did not understand what they approved. Kehoe made that case at a Jefferson City rally on Monday, telling supporters, "For years, I've had people tell me they didn't understand what they were voting on then," according to Mother Jones. He called the measure "a legacy issue for Missourians" and said, "We're really talking about protecting the future, the future of people we'll never even meet," the News Tribune reported. Amanda Sanders, spokesperson for the Her Health, Her Future campaign, told KY3 that "in 2024, voters approved a highly questionable ballot measure and didn't know the parade of issues that would follow." On the transgender-care provision, she said the aim was permanence, "so that way it's not the legislature or a judge; it is permanently protected."

Opponents argued that the measure took decisions away from patients. Tori Schafer of the ACLU of Missouri called it "a power grab, one that takes the power away from you and me to make medical decisions," as quoted by the Missouri Independent in a version carried by the Sedalia Democrat. Luz María Henríquez, the ACLU of Missouri's executive director, said after the call that "Missourians showed that the power lies with the people, not the people in power," St. Louis Magazine reported. Emily Wales of Planned Parenthood Great Plains told KY3 that voters "don't want politicians undermining the will of the people."

The anti-abortion movement was itself divided over the measure's rape and incest exceptions. When the resolution was first debated in February 2025, Sen. Mike Moon of Ash Grove said, "I cannot in good conscience do this," and Ron Calzone of Missouri First urged colleagues to "use some of that same tenacity for a full repeal," the Missouri Independent reported via the News Tribune. Missouri Right to Life campaigned for the measure in the final stretch. Its executive director, Susan Klein, told the News Tribune on Monday that "parts of that statute expire in 2027, and we have to make sure that our children are protected in the Missouri Constitution."

On the map, the People Not Politicians campaign framed the vote as a check on Washington. Its executive director, Richard von Glahn, told St. Louis Public Radio on Tuesday night that "Missourians do not want our elections rigged by insiders in D.C." and that politicians "spent so much time and energy and lawsuits and shenanigans around this." Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas, a Democrat, said in a statement that "Missourians rejected a rigged map and told politicians in Washington and Jefferson City we've had enough," KSHB reported. The pro-map committee, Put Missouri First, argued before the vote that the new lines split fewer counties and kept every incumbent in their district, the case Kehoe made in his signing statement. Its spokesman, Michael Hafner, acknowledged in late October that "Republicans nationally have other fish to fry," according to the Missouri Independent via the News Tribune.

We found no post-result statement from Kehoe, Hoskins, the resolution's sponsors or Missouri Right to Life in the sources we could open before 3 a.m. Eastern. Trump had not commented on the Missouri results in the posts indexed by search engines at that hour. Our reporting on his broader reaction to the midterms covers what he did say.

The money

The two abortion campaigns were not evenly matched. Through the Oct. 22 filing deadline with the Missouri Ethics Commission, the committee supporting Amendment 3 reported about $8.6 million in contributions, led by $3.9 million from Her Health, Her Future Missouri and $1 million from America Next, Inc. The opposing Stop the Ban Missouri coalition reported about $27.5 million, led by $11.9 million from the Fairness Project, $3.8 million from the ACLU Foundation, $3 million from Lynn Schusterman and $1.25 million from Michael Bloomberg. Those figures are Ballotpedia's compilation of state filings; the next reports are due Dec. 3, and we did not review the original filings.

Source: Ballotpedia pages on Amendment 3 and Proposition A, citing Missouri Ethics Commission reports. Ballotpedia's table for the no side on Proposition A shows $13.6 million while its narrative says about $7.2 million; we report the range because we could not resolve the discrepancy against the filings tonight.

The supporters' spokesperson turned the gap into an argument. "If they were supported by Missourians, their funding would reflect that," Sanders told KCTV5, saying her side "represent[s] Missouri values." That claim and the result are two different things. Out-of-state money can fund a campaign that most residents agree with, or one they do not. Only the vote count speaks to what Missouri voters wanted, and on Tuesday it ran 11 points against the measure.

What the polls said

The final public poll on Amendment 3, from Missouri Scout and Remington Research Group, surveyed 684 likely voters on Oct. 14 and 15 and found 43% yes, 43% no and 14% undecided, with a margin of error of 3.7 points. Saint Louis University's August poll with YouGov, fielded Aug. 13 to 24 among 900 likely voters with a 4.09-point margin of error, had 43% in support, 44% opposed and 13% not sure, according to SLU's release. On Proposition A, the same SLU poll found 35% yes, 32% no and 33% not sure when respondents read the actual ballot language.

Both polls described a tied abortion question. The result was 55% to 44%. We have not seen the Remington question wording, and the SLU poll was two months old by Election Day. A one-third undecided share on the map question, which ended 62 to 38, suggests many voters made up their minds late or sorted on party and on the summary language. Polls of ballot measures are harder than polls of candidates because the wording that respondents hear rarely matches the ballot exactly. Our methodology page explains how we weigh polls against results.

What happens now

Abortion remains legal in Missouri through fetal viability under Section 36. Litigation over the state's remaining restrictions continues; Attorney General Catherine Hanaway is appealing a June Jackson County ruling that restored medication abortion, according to KSHB. The statutory ban on puberty blockers and hormones for minors still expires in August 2027 unless the legislature acts.

Amendment 6 changes what the legislature can do next. It requires 80% of both chambers plus a statewide vote to repeal or amend a voter-approved measure, and it applies retroactively to citizen measures passed since 2010, St. Louis Public Radio reported in a story carried by KSMU. Whether that reaches the 2024 abortion amendment, and whether the retroactive clause survives a court challenge, are open questions. Kehoe opposed Amendment 6, calling it "an insult to Missourians," per Mother Jones.

On redistricting, Republicans could try again. The Missouri Supreme Court held 4 to 3 in March that mid-decade redistricting does not violate the state constitution, and St. Louis Public Radio reports that several Republican figures read that ruling as permission to redraw in 2027. If they do, opponents could again petition for a referendum. Amendment 6 includes language barring the legislature from overriding referendum results, which St. Louis Public Radio says complicates a second attempt. The 2022 map will govern the 2028 election unless something changes.

What people were saying online

We looked for public reaction on X and Reddit. Reddit's listings were blocked from our systems on Tuesday night, so we could not sample any subreddit. X could not be opened directly either; the posts below were located through search-engine indexes of x.com, which at 2:30 a.m. Eastern had not yet picked up posts from after the results were called. What follows is therefore a selection of pre-result posts by public figures and accounts, not a measure of opinion, and we have not verified the text beyond what the indexes showed.

Cleaver, a Missouri Democrat, posted after the Sept. 25 Supreme Court order that state officials had "spent precious time, energy, and resources on an effort to silence the voices of Missouri voters and steal a congressional seat." Kehoe posted on Sept. 8, when a federal judge had ordered the 2025 map used, that the decision provided "much-needed clarity for Missouri voters and the election process." Mark Maxwell, a St. Louis television journalist, posted the Remington poll as "neck-and-neck." Chris Stigall, a St. Louis-area conservative radio host, urged a no vote on Amendment 6, calling it "mob rule." The Redistrict Network, a redistricting analysis account not based in Missouri, summarized the Sept. 3 state Supreme Court ruling as holding that "HB 1 takes effect only if voters approve it." We found no indexed posts from ordinary Missouri users about Tuesday's results.

What remains unknown

The totals above are unofficial and will change at the margins during certification. Amendment 8's two-point margin is the one result that could conceivably move. We do not know how Amendment 6's retroactivity clause will fare in court, whether Republican leaders will attempt a 2027 redraw, or how the state's pending abortion litigation will end. We also do not know why the polls missed the abortion result by double digits; county-level returns and the AP Voter Poll's Missouri sample, if released, will help answer that. Our coverage of the night's other ballot questions, including Virginia's reproductive freedom amendment and the transgender school sports measures in four states, gives the national context.

Differing perspectives

Should Missouri have repealed its 2024 abortion-rights amendment and replaced it with a ban that allows limited exceptions?

Each position is summarized as its supporters make it, with equal weight and in alphabetical order. A summary is not an endorsement; the evidence for each is weighed in the story above.

• Keep the 2024 amendment in place

  Who holds it: Stop the Ban Missouri, the ACLU of Missouri, Planned Parenthood Great Plains and Great Rivers, Abortion Action Missouri, PROMO and Democratic officials such as Kansas City Mayor Quinton Lucas

  Opponents argue that voters settled the question in 2024 and that the legislature's measure was an attempt to overturn that decision rather than respect it. They say the amendment would have taken medical decisions away from patients and their doctors and handed them to politicians, and that its exceptions were narrow and undefined on the ballot. They also object to writing a ban on care for transgender minors into the constitution, which they say targets families who are already subject to state law. Their case is that the power to decide these questions rests with the people, and that Tuesday's vote confirmed the 2024 result.

  In their words: St. Louis Magazine, quoting ACLU of Missouri executive director Luz María Henríquez on election night ↗

• Repeal the 2024 amendment and ban abortion with limited exceptions

  Who holds it: Gov. Mike Kehoe, Rep. Ed Lewis and the Republican legislators who referred Amendment 3, the Her Health, Her Future campaign and Missouri Right to Life

  Supporters argue that many voters in 2024 did not understand that the amendment they approved allowed abortion through fetal viability and opened the door to a long list of other changes. They say Amendment 3 would have restored protection for unborn children while allowing exceptions for medical emergencies, fetal anomalies and rape or incest before 12 weeks, which the pre-2024 law did not have. They also point to the state ban on gender transition procedures for minors, parts of which expire in 2027, and say putting it in the constitution keeps it out of the hands of future legislators and judges. Kehoe called it a legacy issue about protecting people who are not yet born.

  In their words: Jefferson City News Tribune, quoting Gov. Mike Kehoe and Missouri Right to Life at a Nov. 3 rally ↗

• Repeal the 2024 amendment with no rape or incest exceptions

  Who holds it: Sen. Mike Moon, Missouri First's Ron Calzone and other anti-abortion legislators and activists who opposed the exceptions

  A third group argues that a ban with rape and incest exceptions concedes too much. They say an unborn child's life does not depend on how the pregnancy began, so a measure that permits abortion in those cases is not one they can support in good conscience. They would rather wait and build support for a full repeal of the 2024 amendment than lock exceptions into the constitution. Some in this group also worried that a narrow loss, or a narrow win with exceptions, would make a later full-repeal effort harder rather than easier.

  In their words: Missouri Independent report carried by the Jefferson City News Tribune, quoting Sen. Mike Moon and Ron Calzone ↗