American voters split along issue lines rather than party lines on Tuesday, showing a preference for policy verdicts rather than party loyalty. In state after state, they protected abortion rights, rejected a Trump-backed congressional map in Missouri, and approved voter ID and citizens-only voting in most places where those questions appeared on the ballot. At the local level, they also pushed back on the AI data centre boom.
Missouri keeps abortion rights
In Missouri, voters defeated Amendment 3, a measure that would have repealed abortion rights they approved just two years ago. About 55.5% voted no, and the Associated Press called the race at 10:19 p.m. The amendment would have reinstated a near-total abortion ban, with exceptions for rape and incest up to 12 weeks. It also would have written a ban on gender transition care for minors into the state constitution. Opponents outraised supporters by nearly four to one, about $27 million to $7 million. Abortion remains legal in Missouri up to fetal viability.
The map wars
Redistricting was on the ballot in three states, and voters rejected partisan redraws from both directions only where they were asked to approve one outright. In Missouri, Proposition A would have kept the 2025 Trump-backed map that splits Kansas City into three districts. It failed decisively, with 61.8% voting no. The state’s 2022 map now stays in place until the 2030s. In Maryland, voters went the other way. Question 3, which opens the door to a Democratic mid-decade redraw, passed with 60% support, making a new map possible for 2028.
In Colorado, Amendment 86 would require approval from both the redistricting commission and the state Supreme Court before any mid-decade redraw. It was trailing at about 46% yes and needs 55% to pass. The map fight was part of a rough night for Missouri Republicans, who also lost two state Senate seats and 15 state House seats. In the 2nd Congressional District, Democrat Fred Wellman defeated Rep. Ann Wagner.
Voter ID and citizens-only voting
Voter ID measures passed where Republican legislatures put them on the ballot and struggled in Democratic-leaning states. Ohio voters wrote photo ID into the state constitution with Issue 3, which passed with about 65.9% support. North Carolina approved photo ID for all voters, including those voting by mail, with about 60%. Nevada’s Question 7, which needed a second required vote, passed with about 62%.
In California, Proposition 39, which would require ID for both in-person and mail voting, was failing with about 41% yes, though it was too early to call. Colorado’s Amendment 84, which would have required an ID number on mail ballots, failed with about 37% support. Arizona’s Proposition 144, combining a citizenship check with voter ID, remained unresolved at 46.8% yes as of midnight.
Citizens-only voting measures, meanwhile, passed everywhere results are in: Arkansas (combined with photo ID) at about 69%, Kansas at about 64%, West Virginia at about 79%, and South Dakota’s Amendment J at about 61.5%. Alaska’s result was not yet available.
Alaska’s ranked-choice fight, round two
Alaska voters appear set to keep ranked-choice voting for a second time. Ballot Measure 2, which would repeal the system, was failing with about 51.9% voting no and roughly 73% of the expected vote counted. The early count looks different from 2024, when the repeal led on election night before late-arriving ballots sank it by about 740 votes. This time, “no” is ahead from the start.
The money was lopsided. Elon Musk gave $1.5 million to the main group backing repeal, which raised about $2.6 million in total. Opponents raised $10.4 million. The system may decide the state’s top race. In the governor’s contest, Democrat Jonathan Kreiss-Tomkins leads first-choice votes with about 49%, while three Republicans split the rest: Bernadette Wilson at about 29%, Dave Bronson at 14% and Treg Taylor at 7.5%. If no candidate passes 50%, ranked-choice rounds will decide the winner.
Other measures
California voters approved Proposition 3 with about 60% support, making permanent the higher income tax rate on top earners: 12.3% on income above roughly $744,000. The tax is worth $5 billion to $15 billion a year, mostly for K-12 schools. A separate one-time wealth tax on billionaires, Proposition 40, was trailing but too early to call.
In Michigan, voters overwhelmingly rejected Proposal 1, which would have called a constitutional convention, with about 75% voting no. They approved Proposal 2, limiting campaign donations from utilities and government contractors, with about 82% support.
Missouri voters also passed Amendment 6 with about 60%. Lawmakers now need 80% of both chambers to send changes to voter-passed initiatives back to the ballot.
Results were not yet available Wednesday morning for the Massachusetts gun-law referendum, several Arizona measures, Colorado’s measures on fentanyl, school sports and youth gender care, and a number of local data centre questions.
AI on the ballot
Voters also pushed back on AI data centres. About two dozen of 41 data centre measures in 10 states, all aimed at restricting development, appear to have passed, according to Axios.
Texas, Ohio, Georgia and Arizona, the four biggest data centre states, all elected Democratic governors, several of whom favour limits on construction. Nearly two-thirds of the data centre capacity planned for 2028 could now face delays.
Nationally, AI was not a top issue. Only 44% of voters told Pew it was very important to their vote, including 54% of Democrats and 34% of Republicans. Locally, it hit harder. Pew found widespread dislike of politicians who back building data centres nearby, with the issue surfacing through power bills, water and land use. Data centres became a debate topic in Texas and Maine.
The AI industry had money to spend but largely kept it out of the races that decided Congress. Leading the Future, an industry-backed super PAC funded by OpenAI’s president and investors, raised $125 million in the second half of 2025. A rival network, Public First, counts Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei among its donors. Yet an Intercept analysis found that only 5% of the AI super PACs’ direct spending went to contested general-election races. AI companies are likely to shift their pitch toward local jobs, lower power bills and community benefits.
