Missouri Republicans are scrambling to organize late campaigns on ballot measures they spent most of the year trying to block from the Nov. 3 election.
The party’s State Committee met Saturday in Columbia and passed resolutions asking for a “yes” vote on Proposition A, a referendum on the 2025 redistricting map, and a “no” vote on Amendment 6, which would restrict the ability of lawmakers to change measures enacted by initiative petition.
Party leaders told the committee they would work this week to develop campaigns on both measures.
The committee’s session was livestreamed on social media by Act for Missouri, a conservative group that opposes Amendment 6 and backs a vote in favor of the 2025 map.
A new campaign effort on either measure would have to be organized and launched as absentee voters are already casting ballots. The election is five weeks away and no-excuse early voting begins in three weeks.
State Republican Political Director Chandler Haynes speaking the morning after the U.S. Supreme Court ordered that the November elections be held in districts used in the 2022 and 2024 elections, said he would work to generate a campaign.
“I cannot even get close to expressing how I feel about what the Supreme Court did to this state and its voters last night,” Haynes said. “It’s criminal, literally, and we should do everything in our power to make sure that we claw back the map that this state deserves and that these voters deserve.”
In a social media post after the Supreme Court decision, U.S. Rep. Mark Alford of Raymore, running for re-election in the 4th District, said he disagreed with the decision and would push to get the map approved.
“I support the Missouri First map because I firmly believe it better reflects the values of Missouri voters,” Alford said. “That’s why I will continue to advocate for the Missouri First map on the ballot this November.”
The Independent left messages with Miles Ross, state GOP executive director, and Jennifer Bukowsky, the committee vice-chair who presided Saturday, but did not receive a reply.
Republican fears
The meeting Saturday included a candid discussion from Haynes, and sharp questioning from committee members, on the status of this year’s campaign program.
The party’s making its biggest direct effort in the Springfield area and in Jackson County, Haynes said, where state Senate seats are in play and multiple House districts could be won by either party.
“The Communists are on the march, and so we don’t get off-years, we don’t get breaks, we don’t get to part-time any of this because none of them do,” Haynes said.
The party is also stepping up voter registration efforts, he said.
“If we’re worried about voter enthusiasm and voter turnout, why not just go make new Republicans and then get them turned out also?” he said. “But we’re definitely not going to neglect the voters we’ve already got registered to vote.”
Voter turnout is the biggest unknown for the November election. There is only one statewide race, for state auditor, and neither incumbent Republican Scott Fitzpatrick, nor the Democratic nominee, Quentin Wilson, have raised large sums this year.
The heavy spending will be in ballot measures, where almost $5 million has been spent so far on broadcast ads, tracking by The Independent shows. There has also been $1.8 million spent on broadcast ads in the two most competitive state Senate races.
The last time the auditor’s race was the only contest on the ballot, there was no major ballot measure to attract voters and only 1.4 million people went to the polls. That is about the same as the number who in August delivered historic defeats on Republican priority ballot measures on income taxes and limiting the initiative process.
The August electorate was far more Democratic and independent than a typical primary election. A big GOP fear is that the trend will continue into November.
State Sen. Jason Bean of Holcomb said Saturday that he would form a committee to oppose Amendment 6.
“I will be reaching out to business leaders, community leaders, party leaders, to try to get a coordinated effort and raise money to beat this horrible, horrible amendment,” Bean said.
Republican legislative candidates are part of the target for Amendment 6 backers, Bean said. Republicans won 111 of 163 seats in the Missouri House in 2024 and hold 24 of 34 state Senate seats. Democrats hope to gain enough seats to break those two-thirds supermajorities.
“They use ballot measures just like this to drive turnout and elect legislative, local and statewide races,” Bean said. “That’s what they’re doing. One of their key goals, and Amendment 6 is part of it, is to take the supermajority.”
Starting behind
Proposition A and Amendment 6 were late additions to the ballot, but the possibility that one or both would go before voters has been apparent for months.
People Not Politicians began the referendum petition campaign that led to Proposition A in September 2025, while the political action committee Respect MO Voters turned in signatures for its petition that became Amendment 6 in May. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins tried to block both measures from the ballot but his decision was overturned by the courts.
Proposition A was assured its spot on the ballot when the U.S. Supreme Court, on Sept. 8, refused to review a Missouri Supreme decision. In that decision, Republicans lost both the battle to stop the referendum and to use in November a gerrymandered Missouri congressional map designed to elect seven Republicans to the U.S. House.
People Not Politicians’ effort has pivoted from making sure it is on the ballot to explaining that people who oppose the gerrymandered map must vote “no.” The committee has purchased almost $800,000 in television ads through Election Day in the Springfield, Kansas City and St. Louis markets, tracking by The Independent shows.
Put Missouri First, the political action committee formed to oppose the referendum, has bought no air time and reported less than $20,000 in donations since June 30. The committee spent $2.9 million so far, most of it last fall to disrupt the petition drive and this spring to fight the referendum in court.
“The fact that they’ve spent so much to avoid getting to this place signals how they feel voters will feel about their proposal here,” said Richard von Glahn, director of People Not Politicians.
The uncertainty about the next step now that Republicans have lost the major court battles shows their confusion after the defeat, von Glahn said.
“That suggests to me that this is not where the proponents of the gerrymander want to be,” he said.
The campaign to defeat Amendment 6 is even further behind, with no structure in place at all.
Amendment 6 would protect past and future initiative proposals from legislative changes without a new statewide vote. To alter a measure approved by initiative, 80% of lawmakers in both chambers would have to agree to submit it to the ballot.
Haynes said he would meet this week with House Majority Leader Alex Riley of Springfield, who is slated to become House Speaker, about raising money. He also named the chiefs of staff for state Sens. Mike Moon and Rick Brattin as part of the team that will lead the opposition to Amendment 6.
Asked when materials would be ready for door-to-door campaigning, Haynes said it was yet to be determined.
“These things take money. We got to get things designed,” he said. “We can’t just, you know, like manna from heaven, say ‘please, you know we need palm cards.’ I wish we could. That’d be amazing. But we’ve got to actually allocate funds and raise funds.”
Meanwhile, Yes on Amendment 6, the political action committee formed for the fall campaign, has raised $2.7 million, most of it from labor unions, and spent $929,265 on broadcast ads that began Sept. 22.
If no substantial effort opposing Amendment 6 develops, it would be the second consecutive election where a measure addressing initiatives becomes a one-sided campaign.
In August, Amendment 4 would have changed the majority requirements for constitutional amendments proposed by initiative. Three committees worked against it and It suffered one of the worst defeats for any measure sent to voters by the Legislature as more than 80% of voters opposed it.
The campaign to defeat Amendment 4 has left voters receptive to the message of Amendment 6, said Jack Cardetti, spokesman for Yes on Amendment 6.
“Amendment 4 was a direct attack by Missouri politicians to make it more difficult to pass voter-led initiatives, and Missourians saw that for what it was,” he said. “It’s a power grab.”
Organizers of the Yes on Amendment 6 committee do not expect to have an open field through Election Day, Cardetti said.
“We fully expect a last-ditch effort by politicians to hold on to power at the expense of Missouri voters and working families,” Cardetti said. “We absolutely, over these final five weeks, believe that these politicians will make a last-ditch effort.”
