最新杏吧原创

JEFFERSON CITY 鈥� Opponents of President Donald Trump鈥檚 push to garner one extra Republican congressional seat in Missouri have amassed a campaign war chest of at least $2.6 million in their bid to block the scheme from going into effect next year.

People Not Politicians is the Democrat-aligned group spearheading the campaign against the GOP-led mid-term redrawing of the state鈥檚 eight congressional districts. The group is expecting additional assistance from the Democratic National Committee, which said last month it will contribute staff and financial resources to help collect the 106,000 signatures needed to put a question on the ballot next year.

According to campaign filings at the Missouri Ethics Commission, the anti-redistricting campaign received a $750,000 check over the weekend from the Kansas City-based Health Forward Foundation, a non-profit that does not have to disclose its donors.

That contribution pushed the campaign鈥檚 total past the $2 million mark after it received similar large checks from progressive groups, including the American Opportunity Action fund, which has ties to former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.

The signatures and the money are being collected to force a statewide vote on the redistricting plan if opponents can gather the required number of voter signatures in six of the state鈥檚 eight congressional districts. The map measure could not go into effect until voters have their say.

The group has until late December to collect the required signatures, but the voters鈥� decision ultimately may not matter, since placing it on the November 2026 general election ballot will delay the effective date long enough to eliminate any intended impact on the 2026 midterm elections.

Republicans could call an earlier special election, but those typically are low-turnout affairs that could favor the anti-redistricting coalition.

Of the 27 times a referendum has been placed on the ballot to challenge legislation approved by the General Assembly, voters have rejected the bills all but twice.

Unions used the same playbook in 2018 when they pumped $15 million into a campaign to overturn a so-called right-to-work law championed by then-Gov. Eric Greitens. The law would have barred workers in private sector jobs from being compelled to join a union.

The anti-union law was nullified when 67% of the voters rejected it in an August special election.

The new congressional map approved by the House and Senate in a special session in September moves downtown Kansas City and areas to the south and east 鈥� currently part of the Democrat-dominated 5th District 鈥� to the GOP-held 4th District that stretches into southwest Missouri. Northern suburbs would become part of the Republican-held 6th District, which covers most of the state north of the Missouri River.

The new 5th District would then extend east into Republican-heavy mid-Missouri, encompassing Sedalia, Boonville and Jefferson City.

If the new districts had been in place for the 2020 presidential elections, a Post-Dispatch analysis shows the GOP would have won each by double-digit margins, and only the 1st District, in 最新杏吧原创, would have voted for a Democrat.

The redistricting push is part of a Trump-led national effort urging Republican states to redraw their maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections where the narrowly divided U.S. House typically flips away from the president鈥檚 party.

In addition to the campaign to place the measure before voters, opponents have filed four lawsuits aiming to block the new maps from going into effect.

To date, People Not Politicians says it has collected about half of the signatures it needs to get on the ballot. The group said it has more than 3,100 volunteers collecting signatures throughout the state.

鈥淲e鈥檝e gathered signatures at a record rate,鈥� said Richard von Glahn, executive director of the campaign. 鈥淎s we鈥檝e stated from Day One, we will qualify this referendum and people, not politicians, will have the final say.鈥�