By Anna Spoerre
A group associated with conservative activist Leonard Leo donated $1 million on Tuesday to a campaign opposing Missouri’s abortion-rights amendment.
(Photo- A handful of people opposed to Amendment 3 protested outside the Missouri Supreme Court on Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2024, following a ruling to keep the abortion amendment on the Nov. 5 ballot- Anna Spoerre/Missouri Independent).
The Concord Fund, an advocacy organization funded by groups connected to Leo, stepped into the fight over Amendment 3 with a $1 million check to a PAC called Vote No on 3, according to filings with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
The Concord Fund’s previous spending in Missouri was focused on boosting Will Scharf’s unsuccessful GOP primary campaign for attorney general, where it donated $5 million to PACs supporting Scharf.
Leo, a lawyer and activist who is a longtime leader at the conservative Federalist Society, also has ties to U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley. He’s been involved in one way or another with almost every high-profile conservative judicial appointment in recent decades.
Amendment 3 would legalize abortion up until the point of fetal viability. Abortion is illegal in Missouri, with exceptions only for medical emergencies.
Vote No on 3 is among a handful of political action committees hoping to defeat the amendment, including Missouri Stands with Women and the Missouri Right to Life. The donation from the Concord Fund is the single largest contribution made yet to a PAC opposing the amendment.
It also came a week before a General Election that’s already seen huge early voter turnout.
Cassidy Anderson, campaign manager for Vote No on 3, said the late-in-the-race donation was motivated in part by positive internal polling showing “Missourians really don’t want this.”
A September Emerson College poll found 58% of those surveyed support Amendment 3, with 30% opposed. An August SLU/YouGov Poll found that 52% supported the amendment and 34% opposed.
“Public polling in Missouri has consistently shown what we know to be true — there is overwhelming support among Missourians for ending the state’s abortion ban and protecting reproductive freedom,” Rachel Sweet, campaign manager for Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, the campaign behind Amendment 3, said in a statement in response to Anderson.
Despite a recent influx of cash, including $250,000 from a PAC called Conservative Leadership for Missouri, the anti-abortion campaign remains markedly outraised and outspent.
As of Wednesday, Missourians for Constitution had raised more than $31 million, including several seven-figure donations from liberal groups including the Sixteen Thirty Fund, the Fairness Project and Open Source Action Fund, all based out of Washington D.C.
Anderson, with Vote No on 3, said the donation will help the PAC launch “one last big education push” through TV and digital ads in the days leading up to the election, adding that the seven-figure check sends a message of hope to Missourians opposing abortion “who have been waiting to see the donor class jump in big time to help.”
As of Monday, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom spent more than $10 million on TV ad buys, including $2.6 million for ads that will air in the final days of the campaign.
Groups opposing Amendment 3 have spent about $700,000 on radio and TV ads, with No on 3 accounting for about $340,000 of that with TV ad purchases in the St. Louis market over the last four days.
No new TV ad purchases were reported for Vote No on 3 as of Wednesday afternoon.
Rudi Keller of The Independent staff contributed to this report.
YOU MAKE OUR WORK POB
9 comments:
A group tied to Leonard Leo is spending money against abortion rights? JESUS TAKE THE WHEEL!
A group tied to George Soros is spending money for the right to kill babies. SATAN HAS THE WHEEL!!!
All I know is Kamala is more qualified to tke the wheel and will keep the country from driving over the cliff while the master magat has intentions to lead us into the great abyss and into economic, climate, and societal purgatory.
5:56 and she has proven this how the last 4 years of Biden Harris, if you think it’s going to be any different your delusional,
And if you think 927, your orange master will do better, you're psychotic. A majority of economists believe donnie's economic policy will lead to higher inflation. His grand deportation plan will cost the economy possibly billions to implement and overcome the lost workforce. Your master has no plan for the country except to get even with his accusers and get a "free out of jail card" for his own guilty ass.
11:51 any time criminals ( illegal aliens) are treated better than our Vets, that is shameful. Vote the trash out of office.
Like when Trump constantly disrespects our soldiers?
Too much conspiracy filled lies from faux news to fill your gullible mind 633. Elvis is alive, albeit old, living in retirement in Jamaica. You know its true 633.
It's really sad how many people are like "Why hasn't Kamala done anything the past four years?"
If you stopped to breathe in a bit of oxygen into that little organ you call a brain, you'd know she has not been the President for four years.
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