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.
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