Jefferson City, Missouri

Missouri Gov. Mike Kehoe campaigned across the state ahead of Election Day to support Amendment 3, a ballot measure that would restrict abortion access and bar gender-affirming surgeries for minors, a practice already prohibited under the state's SAFE Act. The measure comes just two years after Missouri voters passed a separate Amendment 3 in 2024 that protected abortion rights, making the state the first to end a total abortion ban. Kehoe argues the new measure reflects broad consensus and includes exceptions for rape, incest, fetal anomalies, and medical emergencies. Opponents, including Planned Parenthood Great Plains, say combining the two issues is designed to confuse voters and could let the legislature restrict abortion access again.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ended, for now, Missouri's year-long redistricting battle by rejecting the Trump-backed congressional map, clearing the way for the state to use districts drawn in 2022 for the November election. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins directed local election authorities to use the 2022 map after the ruling, following the Missouri Supreme Court's earlier order; Attorney General Catherine Hanaway followed suit. Hoskins had briefly been found in contempt for trying to use the new map before correcting course, and the court imposed no penalty once he complied.

The switch means Missouri could hold its general election under different districts than were used in the August primary, potentially changing candidate choices for roughly a quarter of the state's voters. The dispute centers on a GOP-drawn map targeting Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver's Kansas City-area seat, part of a broader Trump-driven redistricting push following similar action in Texas. Gov. Mike Kehoe still hopes the map can be revived, watching the 8th Circuit, which will hear arguments ahead of a Sept. 19 deadline to finalize ballots for overseas military voters. A statewide referendum on the map also remains on the November ballot.