The Utah state Legislature on Monday approved a new congressional map, choosing one that state Republicans reportedly viewed as most favorable to the party among six options that legislators considered.
But the new map would offer Democrats a chance to flip at least one House seat in the Beehive State, where they haven’t won a congressional election since 2018.
“The approved map adheres to Proposition 4 requirements and reflects the diversity of Utah by ensuring every district includes both rural and urban communities,” GOP state Sen. Scott Sandall said in a statement, referring to the 2018 ballot initiative approved by voters to enact an independent redistricting process.
Sandall is a co-chair of the Legislative Redistricting Committee, which approved the map along party lines earlier Monday.
The GOP-led legislature said the map would be submitted Monday to District Judge Dianna M. Gibson, who ruled in August that Utah’s current congressional lines did not comply with Proposition 4. Monday was the deadline for the legislature to send Gibson a new map. She is expected to choose by Nov. 10 between the map approved by the legislature and one proposed by the plaintiffs who initially brought the lawsuit.
Republicans currently hold all four of Utah’s House districts, and, under the newly passed map, the party would remain favored in all four seats, though to varying degrees.
The redrawn map would split Davis, Salt Lake and Utah counties while keeping Salt Lake City, a Democratic stronghold, in one district. It would create two deep-red districts in the northern and southwest parts of the state, while the 2nd and 3rd districts would become more competitive, giving Democrats an opportunity to pick up at least one seat.
Former Rep. Ben McAdams, the last Utah Democrat to serve in Congress, is reportedly considering a comeback bid from one of the newly redrawn seats. McAdams, a former Salt Lake County mayor, won his lone term during the 2018 “blue wave” before losing reelection to Republican Burgess Owens two years later.
Some Democrats have argued that the new map doesn’t meet the standards under the state’s independent redistricting process.
“It is shameful that Republicans in the legislature are once again trying to cheat Utah voters,” John Bisognano, the president of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee, said in a statement.
Utah is just one of several states redrawing their congressional maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections, but it differs from states such as Texas, California and Missouri because it’s court-ordered.
President Donald Trump has urged GOP-led states to redraw their maps ahead of the 2026 midterm elections to give House Republicans more opportunities to win seats and retain their narrow majority.
Newly enacted maps in Texas and Missouri could yield as many as six seats for House Republicans. Democrats in California have responded, setting up a voter referendum in November on a new map that would help them flip up to five GOP-held seats.
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