Will MO Republicans resist voters on abortion, wages? Direct democracy remains a target

Before Missouri voted to overturn the state's abortion ban , House Majority Leader Jonathan Patterson said lawmakers should respect the will of voters. And when voters also approved raising the state's minimum wage, the Lee's Summit Republican ruled out an effort to repeal that decision.

Patterson's simple promise to abide by the results of the November election has already led at least one Republican to publicly challenge him.

Rep. Justin Sparks, a Wildwood Republican, is now competing with Patterson for the speakership. Patterson, a Lee's Summit physician, has been the Republicans' presumptive choice for speaker for the past year.

"That's not what the leader of the Republican caucus should be saying, guys," Sparks said in a video announcing his bid, referring to Patterson's comments on abortion. "On day one, your speaker must address and tackle Amendment 3," he added.

Some Republican lawmakers want to limit — or possibly overturn — Amendment 3 , which legalizes abortion, and Proposition A , which raises the state's minimum wage to $15 by 2026. Republicans at the same time are also expected to again consider legislation to make it more difficult for voters to amend the state constitution.

All three potential efforts would mark a continuation of Republican attempts to curtail direct democracy in Missouri as voters have repeatedly passed policies seen as progressive at the ballot box, including Medicaid expansion and marijuana legalization.

Abortion rights, minimum wage increases, Medicaid expansion and marijuana legalization were all placed on statewide ballots through initiative petitions, a more-than-100-year-old process that allows voters to bypass lawmakers and approve policy measures. Missouri is one of 26 states where voters have this ability.

But Missouri Republicans, who control every statewide office and both chambers of the legislature, have targeted this mechanism for direct democracy in recent years. They argue that amending the state constitution has become too easy; some are emphatic that the United States is a republic, not a democracy.

"The answer to being disappointed with the results of a democratic process isn't to curtail democracy," said Richard von Glahn, the political director for Missouri Jobs with Justice, a social justice group. "It's to maybe think about, 'Well OK, this is what voters wanted and why are voters voting this way?'"

Ahead of the 2025 legislative session, GOP lawmakers are already focusing on Amendment 3, which 51.6% of voters approved, and Proposition A, which received 57.6% of the vote. However, what those efforts could look like — and whether they'll ultimately be successful — remains unclear.

Minimum wage battle Just days after Missouri voters approved Proposition A, top Republicans already began expressing discontent with the idea of raising the state's minimum wage. Some, including Gov.-elect Mike Kehoe, have argued that the state shouldn't be setting a minimum wage at all.

"Governor-Elect Kehoe believes the free market is best at determining wages, prices, and benefits," said Kehoe's spokesperson Gabby Picard. "The effect of increasing the minimum wage will cause higher prices on goods and services, and reduce the number of jobs available to Missourians."

Unlike some initiative petitions, Proposition A changes state law — not the state constitution — meaning the Republican-controlled General Assembly could overhaul the plan by simply passing a law. Kehoe, a former owner of a car dealership, is likely to sign such a law.

Incoming Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O'Laughlin, a Shelbina Republican, said lawmakers plan to meet to talk about potential changes to the measure. She said that state senators have heard from small business owners who fear they will have to close.

"Small business is the economic engine of our country," O'Laughlin said in a statement. "The notion that wages for every job regardless of skill level should be based off a number chosen at random denies the realities of owning and operating a business."

O'Laughlin acknowledged, however, that she didn't know how the potential legislation would need to be crafted.

Patterson appeared at odds with some of his Republican colleagues, saying in a statement to The Star that there "will not be an effort to overturn something that the people passed with over 57% of the vote."

Peverill Squire, a professor of political science at the University of Missouri-Columbia, said Kehoe and O'Laughlin were saying things that small business owners wanted to hear. A coalition of Missouri business advocacy groups, including the Missouri Chamber of Commerce and Industry, is already weighing potential options to block the measure from taking effect.

However, Squire said Patterson was "probably right," signaling that it would likely be politically toxic for lawmakers to try to overhaul a proposal that a strong majority of voters approved.

"I think they'll probably talk about it in the Republican caucus, but they may conclude that it's just politically not advantageous for them to do this," Squire said. "We'll see where the voters are and what the economy is like in 2026 before I think anybody probably gets serious about challenging it."

Missouri Democrats, who broadly supported raising the state's minimum wage, are likely to fight any Republican plan to try to weaken, or overturn, Proposition A. Incoming House Minority Leader Ashley Aune, a Kansas City Democrat, said inflation has outpaced wages in Missouri, making it hard for families to afford food and gas.

"I've owned a business and I understand how important it is to value the labor and the sacrifices that employees make for their employers," Aune said in a statement. "I'm grateful 57 percent of Missourians also see that value. Another conversation about rejecting the will of Missouri voters is inappropriate and wrong."

Defenders of initiative petitions have long argued that the process allows citizens to directly participate in the democratic process and view it as a tool to get measures passed when the legislature fails to come to an agreement.

For von Glahn, with Missouri Jobs with Justice, businesses should respect the voters' decision on Proposition A. Asking lawmakers to overturn it "is corrosive to the larger democratic process and experiment we all live in," he said.

"I've worked on a number of initiatives and this is often the question: Will legislators respect the will of voters?" von Glahn said.

Abortion & initiative petitions Protracted fights over abortion rights are also likely to roil the Missouri Capitol during the next legislative session as GOP lawmakers are poised to attempt to pass constitutional amendments to undo Amendment 3.

The amendment legalizes abortion up to fetal viability, effectively overturning the state's near-total ban on the procedure. With strong majorities in both chambers, Republicans are almost certain to try to push changes to the amendment.

"Overwhelmingly in Missouri, polls show that Missourians want restrictions on abortions, and yet with Amendment 3, what do we have?" Sparks said in the video announcing his challenge to Patterson. He claimed Amendment 3 allowed "unrestricted abortion," a familiar argument from abortion opponents rejected by supporters.

It's unclear what polling Sparks was referring to. A 2022 poll conducted by Saint Louis University and YouGov showed broad support for abortion access.

But the poll did indicate less support later in a pregnancy with 46% of respondents saying they disagreed with a woman obtaining an abortion in the first 15 weeks of a pregnancy. Meanwhile, 58% supported abortions in the first eight weeks of pregnancy.

Abortion rights supporters have repeatedly said they're prepared for lawmakers to try to fight against Amendment 3.

"We know anti-democratic lawmakers are eager to ignore the will of the voters, but I can assure you we're not letting our foot off the gas now," Anamarie Rebori Simmons, Planned Parenthood Great Plains' chief of staff, said on social media last week.

However, GOP lawmakers could be split over how far they want to go to overturn an amendment approved by a majority of voters.

Sparks' longshot bid to become speaker, largely considered the most powerful position in the General Assembly, comes more than a year after a majority of House Republicans selected Patterson as speaker-elect. Lawmakers are poised to formally decide who becomes speaker at the start of the legislative session.

The challenge to Patterson's leadership could set up an early test of how aggressive Republican lawmakers want to be about overhauling Amendment 3.

Some Republicans may instead — or at the same time — try to renew efforts to curtail direct democracy in the state by raising the threshold for initiative petitions to pass.

"I think that'll be sort of their knee-jerk reaction," said Squire, who cautioned that voters in other states such as Ohio have rejected proposals to weaken direct democracy. "The Republicans will talk about it. They could put something on the ballot, but it'd probably turned out like it did in Ohio, where the voters simply don't want to give up that majority control."

Missouri Republicans had made raising the threshold for amending the state constitution a top priority during last year's legislative session. However, Senate Democrats mounted the longest filibuster in state history to block the legislation from coming to a vote.

Republican senators, split amid infighting, were unable to agree on a path forward to halt the filibuster and the session ended without the measure reaching the ballot. Any effort to raise the voter threshold next year is likely to face intense pushback from Democrats as well as supporters of abortion rights and increased minimum wage.

Missouri has been at the center of attempts by lawmakers to restrict ballot initiatives, said Chris Melody Fields Figueredo, the executive director of the Ballot Initiative Strategy Center.

"These attempts are very anti-democratic," she said. She pointed to broad support of the ballot initiatives, which sometimes surpass those of politicians such as U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley, who received 55.6% of the vote in Missouri.

"If you look especially at a state like Missouri where both Republicans, Democrats and Independents have overwhelmingly supported Prop A – including surpassing the vote total of Josh Hawley – it actually isn't a policy disagreement, it is about changing the rules of the game because you can't win fairly."