Utah enters the redistricting battle for 2026, but not by choice. Here’s what to know

SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Utah is being thrust into a national battle over redistricting because of a court order to redraw its congressional map for the 2026 midterm elections, while President Donald Trump is pushing other Republican-led states to add winnable U.S. House seats for the GOP.

The new district boundaries could make one of Utah’s four congressional seats competitive for Democrats as the party fights to topple the GOP’s slim majority in the House. Nationally, Democrats need to net three seats next year to take control of the chamber.

The current map divides heavily populated Salt Lake County — an island of Democratic support in an otherwise red state — among all four congressional districts. Before the map was adopted in 2021, one district had traded hands between Democrats and Republicans. All have since elected Republicans by wide margins.

Here’s what to know about Utah’s place in the redistricting fight.

Judge says the current map defies voters

A judge on Monday ordered Utah’s Republican-controlled Legislature to toss its congressional map and quickly adopt a new one. District Court Judge Dianna Gibson declared the map unlawful because the Legislature had circumvented an independent redistricting commission established by voters to ensure districts don’t deliberately favor a party, a practice known as gerrymandering.

Voters in 2018 narrowly approved a ballot initiative that created the commission to draw boundaries for Utah’s legislative and congressional districts, which the Legislature was required to consider. Lawmakers repealed the initiative in 2020 and replaced it with a law that transformed the commission into an advisory board that they could choose to ignore. The following year, lawmakers disregarded a congressional map proposal from the commission and drew one of their own.

The Utah Supreme Court said the Legislature is extremely limited in changing laws passed by voters and sent the case back to Gibson to decide the map’s fate.

“How district lines are drawn can either safeguard representation and ensure accountability by elected representatives or erode public trust, silence voices and weaken the rule of law,” she wrote in the ruling.

Gibson has given lawmakers until Sept. 24 to adopt a map that complies with voter-approved standards. Voting rights advocates who were involved in the legal challenge can submit alternate proposals. But Republican officials could use appeals to try to run out the clock before a candidate filing deadline in early January to possibly delay adopting new maps until 2028.

The U.S. Supreme Court is unlikely to intervene, and the state Supreme Court may be hesitant to entertain an appeal after it already asked Gibson to decide.

New district lines mean new matchups

Utah’s four congressional districts currently converge within a couple blocks in the Salt Lake City suburb of Millcreek. A voter could grab a milkshake at the beloved Iceberg Drive Inn and cross into all four districts before it melts.

Lawmakers presented the map as a way for each representative to serve both urban and rural areas. One district spans the entire eastern border of the state and groups vastly different communities, from the winter resort town of Park City, to the urban center of Provo, down to the red rock recreation hub of Moab. Voting rights groups who challenged the map argued it intentionally dilutes the Democratic vote and produces congresspeople who aren’t suited to represent all of their constituents.

The tight deadline for lawmakers to draw new maps could push them to reconsider proposals from the independent redistricting commission that they had ignored after the 2020 census. Those plans create a compact district combining the Democrat-heavy cities of Salt Lake City and Park City, while grouping other cities geographically.

GOP leaders could cut their losses by creating a single left-leaning block, or gamble on creating competitive districts that Republicans will fight to keep.

Voters’ partisan makeup is a bit murky

Registered Republicans overwhelmingly outnumber registered Democrats in the state. But voter registration data doesn’t paint the full picture.

Only about 12.3% of Utah voters are registered Democrats, but more than triple that amount voted for Kamala Harris in the 2024 presidential election. About 29% are unaffiliated, and many voters in the state who hold liberal beliefs choose to register as Republicans to vote in the primaries and have a say in intraparty matters.

That uncertainty may create complications for Republicans as they navigate rapidly redrawing boundaries that shield their seats while complying with stricter standards.

Utah redistricting shakes up the fight for Congress

The ruling throws Republicans a curveball in a state where they expected a clean sweep while they’re working to add winnable seats elsewhere. Trump has urged governors to take up mid-decade redistricting ahead of the midterms, when the sitting president’s party tends to lose seats.

In Texas, a plan awaiting Gov. Greg Abbott’s approval includes five new districts that would favor Republicans. Ohio Republicans already were scheduled to revise their maps to make them more partisan, and Indiana, Florida and Missouri may choose to make changes. Some Democrat-led states say they may enter the redistricting arms race, but so far only California has taken action to offset GOP gains in Texas.

The Supreme Court in 2019 ruled that claims of partisan gerrymandering for congressional and legislative districts are outside the purview of federal courts and should be decided by states.

Redistricting typically occurs once a decade after a census. There are no federal restrictions to redrawing districts mid-decade, but some states — more led by Democrats than Republicans — set their own limitations. The Utah redraw may benefit Democrats who have fewer opportunities to gain seats through redistricting.