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THE MIDTERM MAP WAR
Zoë Petersen, Deseret News
How Utah’s redistricting fight echoes a nationwide battle over congressional representation
By Brigham Tomco Deseret News
T
he nation’s redistricting war reached a climax last month as yearslong legal battles, historic court rulings and political pressures empowered Republicans to rearrange state electoral boundaries, while Democratic efforts were less successful. Beginning with Texas redrawing its maps last summer to net f ive additional GOP-leaning seats at the behest of President Donald Trump, f ive other red states have broken with the oncein-a-decade norm to benef it their party ahead of November. Republicans have drawn 9-12 friendlier seats in Ohio, which had to redistrict by statute; Texas; Missouri; North Carolina; Florida; and Tennessee. These last two came after the Supreme Court in April ruled states cannot draw congressional lines based on race. California jumped into the fray in November, when voters approved a proposal to temporarily override the state’s independent redistricting commission to convert f ive seats into Democratic territory. But elsewhere, Democrats have not been so lucky. A Virginia plan to forge four new Democratic seats was struck down by the state’s high court in May, and threats from Illinois and Maryland have gone unfulf illed. Meanwhile, Georgia and Louisiana might add two more seats to the Republican tally. Lumped in with this mid-cycle mayhem, which could determine congressional control in the 2026 midterms, is Utah’s own battle over district boundaries that has resulted in a safe Democratic seat in Salt Lake County amid GOP opposition. Utah’s messy legal showdown between the Legislature and activist groups has led to allegations of gerrymandering from both sides as voters remain divided over the underlying ballot initiative that removed f inal redistricting authority from lawmakers. The old map, approved after legislators struck a compromise on Utah’s redistricting commission, appeared to intentionally “crack” the Democratic vote in Salt Lake City. Now, the new court-ordered map appears to “pack” the Democratic vote into one district.
Utah may have begun its redistricting brawl all the way back in 2018, but it has since become another player in the partisan pit f ight over maps. Utah’s unique case also raises the same questions about what makes a good map and how gerrymandering can be prevented.
Cox: New map is gerrymandered Utah Gov. Spencer Cox took a combative tone at a Deseret News/Atlantic panel May 11 when asked whether he should have stopped his party from pushing through a self-serving map. The governor turned the criticism back onto the groups who advocated for a new map. “We are a supermajority Republican state,” Cox said, noting that registered Republicans outnumber Democrats nearly 4-to-1. “I think the only way to get a Democratic district in this state is to gerrymander a Democratic district, which is what the courts did.” In August, 3rd District Judge Dianna Gibson ruled that a 2020 law reforming Utah’s redistricting process, put in place through Proposition 4, was unconstitutional. She reinstated the original version of Proposition 4 and tossed out the state’s map, which she said violated it. The old map had eliminated the state’s only competitive district, which a Democrat, Ben McAdams, won in 2018. Lawmakers instead drew four safe Republican seats by splitting up one neighborhood in Millcreek between the districts, signif icantly diluting Utah’s Democratic vote. The new map — submitted by nonprof its, and selected by Gibson in November — drew a circle around the most Democratic part of the state, home to 40% of Utah’s actively registered Democrats, giving the party a 15-percentage point advantage, based on recent races. The Utah Constitution gives map-drawing power to the Legislature, according to Cox, who said lawmakers rightly believe that a fair map can be drawn with GOP-majority seats. Ultimately, Cox said, a focus on gerrymandering ignores the real issues in American politics. “I hate the midterm redistricting. I will say that. I hate MAP D2