Utah GOP lawmakers indicated on Tuesday they plan to appeal the new congressional map ordered by a court that created one blue House seat in the state and found that Utah’s Republican-controlled legislature engaged in partisan gerrymandering.
Utah Senate President Stuart Adams and Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz said the legislature will wait until the judge’s final decision on redistricting before filing the appeal.
Earlier this month, Utah judge Dianna Gibson rejected the congressional map that maintained the state’s House delegation solely composed of four Republicans. She ruled the map violated Utah’s Proposition 4, a ballot initiative passed in 2018 that bans partisan gerrymandering, and approved a separate map that would create a seat safely held by a Democrat around Salt Lake City.
The Republican lawmakers criticized the judge’s decision, announcing they intend to challenge it.
“By design or by default, Judge Gibson has authorized the most partisan and thus the most gerrymandered map in the history of the state of Utah,” Adams said at the Utah State Capitol.
“We cannot let unchecked initiatives turn Utah into California,” he added, referencing Gov. Gavin Newsom’s (D-CA) recently approved redistricting ballot measure.
Additionally, Gov. Spencer Cox (R-UT) intends to call a redistricting-related special session on Dec. 9.
The primary purpose of the session is to consider a constitutional amendment for the 2026 ballot that will clarify the legislature’s authority in drawing boundaries of congressional districts and address concerns about ballot initiatives, like Proposition 4, overriding the Utah Constitution.
The issue stems from the Utah Supreme Court and Gibson’s rulings in support of Proposition 4. Utah Republicans argue the voter-passed law contains unconstitutional language. They failed to repeal it.
Another key item of the special session is to postpone the state’s candidate filing deadline as an appeal advocating for potential changes to the congressional boundaries makes its way through court.
Since Gibson’s decision this month, five Democrats have already entered the 2026 House race to secure the party’s nomination for Utah’s newly redrawn 1st congressional District in a bid against Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT).
The most well-known candidate is former Rep. Ben McAdams (D-UT), who lost to Rep. Burgess Owens (R-UT) in 2020. McAdams was the last Democrat to represent Utah constituents nationally. The other four contenders are state Sen. Kathleen Riebe, former state Sen. Derek Kitchen, political newcomer Luis Villarreal, and state Sen. Nate Blouin.
REDISTRICTING SETBACKS IN COURT SLOW GOP MAP PUSH AHEAD OF 2026
The redrawn district is significantly different from Moore’s northern Utah district in terms of its geographic scope, population makeup, and partisan lean. The new map encompasses most of Salt Lake County, the state’s most populous county and a predominantly Democratic-leaning area.
Moore is planning on running for one of Utah’s four seats next year, according to his campaign spokesperson, suggesting he can’t win reelection in the redrawn district if the new map is kept.
