Missouri Voters Reject Abortion Ban Amendment and Republican-Drawn Congressional Map

Missouri voters on Tuesday defeated a Republican-backed constitutional amendment that would have banned almost all abortions, and NBC News projected they also blocked a GOP-drawn congressional map, as voters decided 145 ballot questions in more than three dozen states. Amendment 3 lost with only 44 percent of the vote. It would also have banned gender-affirming care for minors, which Missouri law already prohibits. Its main aim was to overturn a 2024 initiative, passed with almost 52 percent, that enshrined abortion rights in the state constitution. Republicans, who hold a legislative supermajority, placed it on the ballot. Gov. Mike Kehoe, whose wife Claudia was treasurer of the campaign backing it, made a final pitch on Monday. The map referendum followed new lines passed last year that put Democratic Rep. Emanuel Cleaver in a heavily Republican district. Organizers said they gathered over 300,000 signatures, well above the 106,000 required. Secretary of State Denny Hoskins declined to certify the referendum, calling it unconstitutional, and courts issued conflicting rulings. The U.S. Supreme Court three times rejected Republican attempts to use the map this year. AP reported abortion-rights wins in Missouri and Virginia.

Left-leaning outlets covered two different halves of the night. Mother Jones led with the abortion vote, with a headline stressing that Missouri had defeated a ban "again." It described the measure as intentionally confusing, noted a poll showing a dead heat, and highlighted Kehoe's family ties to the campaign and his claim that voters were confused in 2024. NBC News led with the map, calling the result a blow to Republicans. It laid out the signature drive, Hoskins's refusal to certify, the court fights and the three Supreme Court rejections. Both frame the results as defeats for Republican efforts. AP, in the alternative group, differs by combining the outcomes into one national story, adding Virginia and the 145 measures and framing the night as disapproval of Trump's redistricting. Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative outlets had.