Missouri Democrats didn't just win on Tuesday — they won in historic fashion.
Buoyed by a national backlash against President Donald Trump that turned states like Kansas and Texas blue, Missouri Democrats had their best electoral showing of the 21st century. They won 16 state House seats, two Senate seats and saw Democrat Fred Wellman defeat Republican Congresswoman Ann Wagner in a race that emerged late on prognosticators' radar.
The party supported the defeat of an abortion ban and a Trump-backed congressional map that consumed the state's attention for the past year. And Democrats supported an amendment that placed heavy restrictions on the GOP-controlled legislature's ability to overturn citizen-led ballot initiatives.
Here's some of the big takeaways from an election that's expected to reverberate well beyond Tuesday:
Missourians rejected anti-trans attacks
Republicans thought that spending millions of dollars on television ads maligning transgender people would help pass a ban on most abortions and get Congresswoman Ann Wagner across the finish line.
They were wrong.
Amendment 3 failed by a significant margin, even in places like Jefferson and Cass counties that have sent anti-abortion rights legislators to Jefferson City. That was despite proponents leaning heavily on provisions that would have placed a gender-affirming care ban for minors in the constitution. Democratic candidates who opposed that ban won in competitive state Senate races in Jackson and Greene counties.
And despite withering attacks from Wagner on Wellman's past statements backing the transgender community, Wellman never equivocated on his support — something he said on Wednesday showcased the principled way he ran his campaign.
"To choose to punch down on people who already have hard lives, from our Muslim community to our transgender community, I just won't do it," Wellman said.
Missourians don't like abortion bans
Missourians appeared to speak fairly clearly in 2024 when they legalized abortion in a state that Trump won by more than 18 percentage points. Some Missouri Republicans in 2025 said they would support an alternative plan that prohibited most abortions but had exceptions for some instances of rape, incest, fetal anomalies and medical emergencies.
Once again, they were really wrong — since the margin of defeat for Amendment 3 (over 55.5%) was more than the "yes" vote for the 2024 abortion rights amendment (51.6%). It calls into question whether there's any appetite for another statewide election to restrict abortion, especially if 2028 is going to be another bad year for Republicans.
"We've known that no matter people's personal feelings about abortion, they don't think it should be politicians' decisions," said Abortion Action Missouri's Mallory Schwarz on Wednesday. "If people don't think it was proved in '24, we proved it last night."
Missouri's redistricting wars were a gigantic waste of time
Missouri Republicans spent more than a year trying to prop up a congressional map aimed at ousting Democratic Congressman Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City. That failed when redistricting opponents gathered enough signatures to place the measure up for a referendum and prevent the Trump-backed map from going into effect.
Proposition A failed Tuesday by a wide margin. And People Not Politicians' Richard von Glahn theorized that the obsession with getting the 2025 map in place may have contributed to Democratic gains in the Missouri House and Senate.
Even if the 2025 map had been in place, it's not a certainty that Wagner would have been saved — especially since Democrats improved dramatically in places like Jefferson County. Republicans Bob Onder in the 3rd Congressional District and Chris Stigall in the 6th underperformed on Tuesday and may have faced tough reelection bids under the new map.
Missouri Democrats can compete in statewide elections
The Missouri state auditor's race was never going to be the center of attention this cycle, especially with high-profile ballot initiatives taking up money and oxygen. But Democrat Quentin Wilson showed that in very bad years for Republicans, his party can be competitive in statewide elections.
Despite being massively underfunded, Wilson only lost to state Auditor Scott Fitzpatrick by 4.4 percentage points. That's the Democrats' best statewide performance since 2018, when state Auditor Nicole Galloway won reelection.
Wilson's performance could show that Democrats can compete seriously for downballot contests, including GOP officials like Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, who came under intense criticism during the redistricting gambit.
Blue west St. Louis County has finally arrived
Trump has been one of the biggest drivers of Republican turnout in modern Missouri history — especially in rural parts of the state. But he's also turned historically Republican suburban areas, such as west St. Louis County, into competitive territory for Democrats.
Still, Wagner and GOP state lawmakers managed to survive even when west county voted for legal abortion and against Trump. That came to an end Tuesday when Wagner lost St. Louis County by a staggering 14.3 percentage points and several GOP state lawmakers were ousted.
St. Louis County Executive-elect Jake Zimmerman attributed the wins to the fact that quality candidates stepped up to run. But he also said Democrats will be under pressure to actually deliver tangible results in the GOP-controlled legislature.
"The people aren't looking for ideological warriors, and the people aren't looking for folks eager to score the next big own on social media," Zimmerman said. "The people are looking for folks to fill the potholes, take care of the parks, address the cost of living, bring down prices, and make this state a little bit fairer for everybody."
Kehoe's future seems murky
This was not a good election season for Gov. Mike Kehoe.
Voters have now rejected proposals the governor championed to ban most abortions, make it more difficult to amend the constitution and open the door to ending the income tax. And the passage of Amendment 6 permanently bars the legislature from raising the threshold to pass ballot items beyond anything other than a simple majority.
While Kehoe has consistently said he plans to run for a second term in 2028, the reemergence of former Attorney General Andrew Bailey could seriously complicate that plan. It's giving Republicans flashbacks to 2008, when Gov. Matt Blunt abruptly pulled the plug on his reelection bid and set off a GOP civil war that helped Democrats win big that year.
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