Chiefs give $25K to Missouri Republicans as stadium fight drags on
The Kansas City Chiefs contributed $25,000 to a political action committee supporting Republicans in the Missouri Senate in a donation made public this week.
The check, revealed in campaign finance records on Sunday, marks the team’s second major contribution to Missouri Republicans this year. It comes roughly six months after lawmakers passed a sweeping stadium-incentives plan in the hopes of keeping the team inside state lines.
The Chiefs made the $25,000 contribution to the Missouri Senate Campaign Committee, which raises money to elect Republicans to the Missouri Senate. The team made an identical $25,000 donation to a PAC supporting Missouri House Republicans in August.
Daniel Seitz, the PAC’s executive director, said in a phone call on Wednesday that he would get back with a reporter with more details about the donation. Seitz did not return two follow up calls and a text message later in the day.
Senate President Pro Tem Cindy O’Laughlin, a Shelbina Republican who serves as treasurer of the PAC, told The Star she was not aware of the contribution until it was reported. A spokesperson for the Chiefs did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
It’s unclear what exactly the donation was related to, but Republicans firmly control both chambers of the Missouri General Assembly and hold every statewide office. The team’s political contributions are one indicator of its access to power in the state.
A review of campaign finance reports did not show any contributions from the Chiefs to Missouri Democrats this year, but the team donated $2,500 to House Democrats last year.
The new contribution comes as officials in Missouri and Kansas fight over the future of the Chiefs and the Kansas City Royals. Lawmakers in both states have passed public funding in the hopes of securing the teams, but neither team has committed to residing in either state.
A Chiefs lobbyist told Missouri lawmakers this summer that, if the team stays inside state lines, they want to build a $1.15 billion renovation of Arrowhead Stadium in Jackson County. Records obtained by The Star in October showed that Republican Gov. Mike Kehoe was in regular communication with the Chiefs and Royals amid the protracted fight over the teams.
Kansas campaign finance records do not indicate any similar donations to Kansas lawmakers.
The Chiefs have been regular contributors to the Missouri Senate Republican PAC and the political arm for House Republicans over the past decade. The team has donated to Missouri Democratic candidates or PACs on occasion, but those contributions appear less often on campaign finance reports reviewed by The Star.
The Chiefs’ connections to politics have also made headlines at times.
Last year, Unity Hunt, a company that oversees the assets of the Lamar Hunt family, including the Chiefs, paid $300,000 to a PAC that opposed a statewide abortion rights ballot measure in Missouri.
Voters later approved the measure, called Amendment 3, last November, which overturned the state’s near-total ban on the procedure and legalized access to the procedure.
A Chiefs spokesperson told The Star at the time that the donation to the anti-abortion group came from Lamar Hunt Jr., who wired money from his account with Unity Hunt to the PAC.
Hunt Jr., the son of Chiefs founder Lamar Hunt, has previously been outspoken about his opposition to abortion and in 2020 served as the master of ceremonies at a Kansans for Life banquet.
In the weeks before the 2024 election, Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker also stepped into conervative politics and launched a political action committee designed to promote politicians who fight for conservative Christian values.
But Butker’s PAC appeared to have fallen short of that goal. The Star previously found that none of the money raised by the PAC went to candidates.
The Star’s Matthew Kelly contributed reporting.
This story was originally published December 10, 2025 at 3:38 PM.
