National Republicans gear up to fight referendum on Missouri congressional map
Put Missouri First reported receiving two $50,000 checks — one from the National Republican Congressional Committee and the other from the Republican National Committee (Tim Carpenter/Kansas Reflector)
A newly formed political action committee created to defend the gerrymandered congressional map drawn by Missouri lawmakers received $100,000 this week from national Republicans.
On Wednesday, Put Missouri First reported two $50,000 contributions — one from the National Republican Congressional Committee and the other from the Republican National Committee. It marks the first contributions to the PAC, which was created last week to counter the referendum campaign seeking to put the state’s congressional map on the 2026 ballot.
The Democratic National Committee announced in September that it would contributing staff and financial resources to bolster a referendum effort.
Matt Belz, a St. Louis attorney serving as treasurer of Put Missouri First, could not be immediately reached for comment.
Missouri’s new congressional districts are part of President Donald Trump’s push for Republican states to revise maps to increase the GOP majority in the U.S. House before next year’s midterm elections.
State lawmakers returned to the Missouri Capitol in September to redraw the map to ensure Republicans have an advantage in seven of the state’s eight districts. The new map carves up the 5th District, based in Kansas City and represented by Democratic U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver since 2005, to make it easier to flip the seat for Republicans.
Immediately after the map was approved, a PAC called People Not Politicians filed a referendum to place it on the ballot. The group has until Dec. 11 to turn in at least 106,000 signatures in order to force a vote on the plan. On Wednesday, it said it had already exceeded 200,000 signatures.
The referendum campaign faces a lawsuit filed by Missouri Attorney General Catherine Hanaway claiming it is unconstitutional and numerous procedural hurdles enacted by the secretary of state’s office.
But People Not Politicians has raised more than $3 million in just two months, mostly from out-of-state groups. And it is getting help from the Missouri AFL-CIO, which led the referendum campaign in 2018 that collected 300,000 signatures and repealed the state’s a right-to-work law.
“We’re continuing to gather signatures because Missourians want their voices to be heard. We will not stop collecting or be deterred,” said Richard von Glahn, executive director of People Not Politicians. “Every attack from politicians trying to silence us brings us more volunteers and more support.”
Of the 27 times a referendum has been placed on the Missouri ballot, voters have rejected actions by the General Assembly all but twice — including 1922, when voters overturned a congressional map passed by the legislature.
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