Utah judge rules in favor of congressional map that all but guarantees Dems flip seat in midterms

A judge in Utah has rejected a proposed map from the GOP-led state legislature and has ruled that a map that has a district favoring a Democrat seat in Congress will be adopted by the state. Currently, all four congressional seats in Utah are represented by Republicans.

The map change comes ahead of the 2026 midterms, where the GOP has a thin majority in the House. Judge Dianna Gibson ruled that the map submitted by the legislature "unduly favors Republicans and disfavors Democrats."

The Democrat-leaning district encapsulates much of Salt Lake County, the region that is most left-wing in the state. Instead of going with the map drawn by the legislature, the judge selected a map drawn by the League of Women Voters of Utah and the Mormon Women for Ethical Government (MWEG).

MWEG is not affiliated with the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, commonly known as the Mormon Church, however, members of the group are critical of Trump, Utah Senator Mike Lee, and often express left-wing views on social media. The executive director of MWEG, Emma Petty Adams, has stumped for DEI initiatives. The president of The League of Women Voters in Utah is Katharine Biele, who was voted by the readers of the left-wing Salt Lake Tribune to be the "2024 Utahn of the Year."

Salt Lake County had previously been divided among the four districts, but it will now be consolidated into one, all but guaranteeing one House seat will flip to the Democrats in 2026 from Utah.

In the ruling, Gibson argued that the map (Map C) drawn up by the legislature "was drawn with partisan political data on display," per Fox 13.

"Map C does not abide by Proposition 4’s traditional redistricting criteria 'to the greatest extent practicable.' And, based on the evidence presented, the Court finds that Map C was drawn with the purpose to favor Republicans—a conclusion that follows from even S.B. 1011’s metric for partisan intent," the judge wrote.

Prop 4 was passed in 2018 in Utah, which amended the Utah Constitution to establish a commission to redistrict congressional maps. Previously, it had been done by the legislature. The change also banned gerrymandering.

The judge then claimed in the ruling that the map, which is highly likely to flip the congressional seat, "has neither the purpose nor effect of unduly favoring or disfavoring a political party."

Petty-Adams commented that it was a "good day" when the ruling came down.