JEFFERSON CITY — The signature-gathering campaign to overturn Missouri’s near-total abortion ban has raised more than $4.8 million since launching in mid-January, according to information filed Monday with the Missouri Ethics Commission.
The campaign Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, in that time, has also spent more than $3.4 million, ending the most recent fundraising quarter with nearly $1.5 million on hand.
Snapshots of the campaign fundraising quarter — which wrapped at the end of March — show the abortion-rights campaign significantly leading opponents in the fundraising race as the May 5 deadline to submit voter signatures approaches.
Missourians for Constitutional Freedom, must submit at least 171,592 signatures at that time, though organizers are aiming for a much higher number.
Of money spent, Missourians for Constitutional Freedom has paid more than $3 million to Dallas-based Advanced Micro Targeting for signature collection.
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The group Missouri Stands with Women, which opposes the effort to overturn Missouri’s near-total ban, reported $84,567 in contributions, spending nearly $67,000 and ending the quarter with less than $18,000 on hand.
The more than $4.8 million raised by the abortion-rights group also surpassed fundraising numbers posted by statewide candidates Monday.
In the Republican race for governor, Lt. Gov. Mike Kehoe remained ahead of his two closest competitors — Secretary of State Jay Ashcroft and state Sen. Bill Eigel — when it came to monetary support.
Kehoe’s war chest stood at more than $6.2 million at the end of the fundraising quarter, records showed Monday.
The lieutenant governor raked in nearly $2.4 million between his PAC and campaign, spending nearly $1.9 million.
Eigel’s campaign and PAC raised over $570,000 and burned through nearly $480,000 in that same time period, leaving his effort with more than $1.7 million at the end of the quarter.
Ashcroft’s combined haul totaled $510,000 and ended the quarter with more than $2.5 million.
Republican Attorney General Andrew Bailey reported less money on hand at the end of the quarter than his Republican competitor, Will Scharf. Scharf reported nearly $3 million on hand while Bailey reported over $2.5 million on hand. (Scharf’s total did not include a $1.4 million check from billionaire Paul Singer earlier this month.)
In the Republican race for secretary of state, House Speaker Dean Plocher led his seven Republican opponents by a wide margin in the fundraising race.
Plocher reported more than $1.3 million between his campaign account and allied political action committee; the competitor closest to his dollar amount was state Sen. Denny Hoskins, R-Warrensburg, who had nearly $255,000 on hand.
Plocher, who has been the subject of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee, raised $15,000 last fundraising quarter between his PAC and campaign, and spent almost $50,000.
Hoskins, meanwhile, took in over $22,000 and spent nearly $36,000 in that time.
Other Republicans running include state Rep. Adam Schwadron, state Sen. Mary Elizabeth Coleman, Valentina Gomez, Greene County Clerk Shane Schoeller, Jamie Corley and Mike Carter.
Democratic state Rep. Barbara Phifer, a Kirkwood Democrat running for secretary of state, ended the quarter with under $9,000 in her campaign account after raising over $7,000. She faces Monique Williams and Haley Jacobson in the Democratic primary.