Utah joined a growing number of states where congressional district boundaries may change before the 2026 elections. A federal district court judge struck down Utah’s congressional map on Aug. 25, 2025, ruling that the Utah State Legislature violated voters’ right to reform their government when it overrode voters’ chosen redistricting rules.
The judge gave the legislature 30 days to produce a new map, writing, “The Legislative Defendants are ordered to make their chosen remedial map available to Plaintiffs and the Court no later than 5:00 p.m. on September 24, 2025 or within 24 hours of enacting the new congressional map, whichever occurs earlier.”
If the legislature does not produce a map that is compliant with the rules voters approved by Sept. 24 or if the plaintiffs argue that the legislature’s proposed map is not compliant, the plaintiffs and third parties will be allowed to propose maps to the court. An evidentiary hearing discussing the resulting proposals will be scheduled for mid-October.
How did this start?
In 2018, voters approved Utah Proposition 4, creating a seven-member redistricting commission to draft and recommend district maps to the legislature. On March 18, 2020, the legislature passed Senate Bill 200, altering Proposition 4. The bill provided for a legislative redistricting committee that could also recommend maps to exist alongside the commission. It also removed the ballot initiative’s requirement that the legislature explain its map decisions and its prohibition on partisan gerrymandering.
On Nov. 12, 2021, Gov. Spencer Cox (R) signed new congressional district boundaries that the legislature passed and that differed from dozens proposed by the commission after the 2020 census. Many of the commission’s maps suggested urban districts in the Salt Lake City area. The legislature’s map gave all four of the state’s congressional districts a piece of Salt Lake City.
All of Utah’s four congressional districts are represented by Republicans. The last Utah Democrat to serve in the U.S. House was Ben McAdams in Utah’s 4th Congressional District. He won against incumbent Mia Love (R) in 2018 by a 0.2 percentage point margin. Now-U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens (R) defeated McAdams in 2020 by a 1.0 percentage point margin.
After redistricting, Owens won re-election by a 28.8 percentage point margin in 2022 and by 33.2 percentage points in 2024.
The decision in the case League of Women Voters v. Utah State Legislature comes more than three years after the Utah League of Women Voters and Mormon Women for Ethical Government first sued the legislature on March 16, 2022.
The groups argued that the legislature violated the state constitution when it repealed and replaced Proposition 4. The groups also argued that the congressional map was a partisan gerrymander.
The district court in October 2022 originally dismissed the challenge against the legislature for repealing Proposition 4, but the Utah Supreme Court ruled on July 11, 2024, that the legislature’s override of Proposition 4 likely violated voters’ constitutional right to participate in government. The case returned to the district court to determine whether the legislature’s changes to the ballot initiative were “narrowly tailored to advance a compelling government interest.”
On August 25, 2025, the district court struck down the state’s congressional map, writing,
“The nature of the violation lies in the Legislature’s refusal to respect the people’s exercise of their constitutional lawmaking power and to honor the people’s right to reform their government.”
What does this mean for 2026?
Utah joins a group of now 13 states that could have new congressional district boundaries by 2026. It is one of three states whose maps could change as a result of litigation, the others being Georgia and Louisiana.
A new Salt Lake City seat could mean the state’s new congressional districts would lean three Republican and one Democratic. This shift would come amid an ongoing effort in states across the country to draw more favorable districts for their parties ahead of the 2026 elections.
Most notably, a Texas map redraw that is meant to gain five Republican U.S. House seats awaits Gov. Greg Abbott’s (R) signature. California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) set a Nov. 4, 2025, special election for a constitutional amendment to redraw the state’s congressional district boundaries through 2030.
The map below shows the states with maps subject to change before the 2026 elections.
Heading into the elections, Republicans have a 219-212 majority in the U.S. House with four vacancies.