Judge adopts Utah congressional map creating Democratic-leaning district by 2026

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A Utah judge on Monday rejected a new congressional map drawn by Republican lawmakers and adopted an alternative proposal that created a Democratic-leaning district ahead of the 2026 midterm elections.

Republicans hold all four U.S. House seats in Utah and had introduced a map intended to protect them.

Judge Dianna Gibson ruled, just before the midnight deadline, that the Legislature’s new map “unduly favors Republicans and disfavors Democrats.”

He had ordered lawmakers to draw a map that met standards set by voters to ensure that districts do not deliberately favor one party, a practice known as gerrymandering. If they failed, Gibson warned that she might consider other maps submitted by the plaintiffs in the lawsuit that led her to throw out the existing map of Utah.

Gibson ultimately selected a map drawn by the plaintiffs, the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government. It keeps Salt Lake County almost entirely within one district, rather than dividing the heavily Democratic population center among the four districts, as was the case previously.

The judge’s ruling throws a curveball for Republicans in a state where they expected an outright victory as they work to add winnable seats elsewhere. Nationally, Democrats need to pick up three seats in the U.S. House of Representatives next year to wrest control of the chamber from the Republican Party, which is trying to break a historical pattern of the president’s party losing seats in midterm elections.

The newly approved map gives Democrats a much greater opportunity to flip a seat in a state that has not had a Democrat in Congress since early 2021.

“This is a victory for all Utahns,” state House and Senate Democrats said in a joint statement. “We took an oath to serve the people of Utah, and fair representation is the truest measure of that promise.”

In August, Gibson overturned Utah’s congressional map adopted after the 2020 census because the Legislature had circumvented voter-approved anti-gerrymandering standards.

The ruling thrust Utah into a national redistricting battle as President Donald Trump urged other Republican-led states to undertake mid-decade redistricting to try to help the GOP retain control of the House in 2026. Some Democratic states are considering new maps of their own, and California voters approved a map last week that gives Democrats a chance to gain five more seats. Republicans are still in the lead in the redistricting fight.

AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin

Redistricting typically occurs once every decade after a census. There are no federal restrictions on redrawing districts in the middle of the decade, but some states (led more by Democrats than Republicans) set their own limitations. The Utah ruling gives an unexpected boost to Democrats, who have fewer opportunities to gain seats through redistricting.

If Gibson had approved the map drawn by lawmakers, all four districts would remain Republican, but two would have become slightly competitive for Democrats. His proposal banked on Republicans’ ability to protect the four seats with much slimmer margins rather than creating a single, left-leaning district.

The ruling came minutes before midnight on the day the state’s top elections official said was the last possible date to enact a new congressional map to give county clerks enough time to prepare for candidate filings for the 2026 midterm elections.

Republicans have argued that Gibson has no legal authority to enact a map that was not approved by the Legislature. State Rep. Matt MacPherson called the ruling a “gross abuse of power” and said he had opened a bill to initiate impeachment against Gibson.

Gibson said in his ruling that he has an obligation to ensure a legal map is in place by the deadline.