Utah Republicans filed a lawsuit challenging a state judge’s selected redistricting map that would give Democrats a greater chance of winning a U.S. House seat in November.
The lawsuit, filed on Monday in a federal court, challenges Utah judge Diana M. Gibson’s decision to reject the Republican legislature-drawn map in favor of a map drawn by plaintiffs who argued against the GOP plan. The court-selected map will include a new Salt Lake County district that is expected to favor Democrats by over 17 points. The previous map gave Republicans wins in all four U.S. House districts in the state.
In the Monday complaint filed against that decision, the GOP plaintiffs include incumbent U.S. Reps. Celeste Maloy (R-UT) and Burgess Owens (R-UT). The Republicans argue that the court-selected map violates the U.S. Constitution because it was drawn by plaintiffs in the court case, not the state legislature, which the Constitution vests election authority in. Those plaintiffs who drew the court-selected map were the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government.
UTAH JUDGE REJECTS GOP REDISTRICTING PLAN IN FAVOR OF ONE THAT CREATES A NEW BLUE DISTRICT
“The political branches chosen by the People of Utah—not judges or private activist organizations— possess the exclusive constitutional authority to determine the apportionment of the People’s representatives in the U.S. Congress,” the Republicans write in the complaint.
The Republican plaintiffs called the League of Women Voters of Utah and the Mormon Women for Ethical Government “private activist organizations” that do not have lawmaking power under the federal or Utah state Constitution.
“In one stroke, therefore, Judge Gibson’s decision has effectively displaced the elected representatives of the People of Utah and substituted her own preferred electoral arrangement, drafted by partisan litigants that openly sought to flip one of Utah’s four Republican congressional seats to a Democrat,” the complaint reads.
The lawsuit asks the federal district court for the District of Utah to declare the state court-selected map unconstitutional and to bar its use in the 2026 midterm elections. The clock is ticking on the process, as candidates have a mid-March deadline to file for the race before primary elections are held on June 23.
Maloy and Owens, who are each running for re-election, said in the complaint that the redistricting process poses “logistical and political challenges” for their re-election bids about where they should file and campaign.
“At this time, the Representatives do not know where to file for office or begin campaigning. Nor do they know where to budget their time,” the complaint reads. “This confusion results in lost time while the Representatives wait for this situation to be resolved. Neither Representative Maloy nor Representative Owens have yet filed for re-election.”
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The Utah State Legislature is also appealing Gibson’s order in the state court system.
The Utah redistricting battle comes as part of the nationwide redistricting push-and-pull between blue and red states as each side of the aisle attempts to win over the lower chamber in the midterm elections. The current party breakdown in the U.S. House sits at 218 Republicans to 214 Democrats, with three vacancies.