Washington, D.C. — Today, John Bisognano, President of the National Democratic Redistricting Committee (NDRC), released the following statement in response to the new congressional gerrymander approved by the Legislative Redistricting Committee and submitted to the Utah Legislature:

“It is shameful that Republicans in the legislature are once again trying to cheat Utah voters. Map C does not meet the criteria established in the independent redistricting reforms that voters passed, and it is neither fair nor in line with the maps put forward by the Utah Independent Redistricting Commission. Instead of voting for the unfair Map C, based on flawed metrics, the legislature should finally adhere to the redistricting reforms passed by the voters. Utah’s courts have already rejected the legislature’s efforts to undermine the state’s independent redistricting reforms multiple times and should do so again if the legislature submits Map C.” 

In the public portal, Utahns highlighted several flaws in Map C that make it both unfair and fall woefully short of the criteria outlined in the state’s redistricting reform. Map C separates important communities of interest, including Salt Lake City; it cracks the populous city away from surrounding suburbs and census-designated places that are politically, economically, and socially aligned with it. For example, Salt Lake City and West Valley City — two of Utah’s most diverse and interconnected cities — are placed in separate districts. These areas form a cohesive, urban region, and splitting them apart weakens their collective voting power and disrupts their shared interests. The resulting districts are sprawling and noncompact, drawn not to reflect communities of interest but to secure partisan advantage.

Additionally, the Paiute Reservation (UT-04) is separated from the Navajo Nation Reservation and the Uintah and Ouray Reservations (UT-03) to dilute the voting power of the people living in those reservations. Their lands, as well as the basin land in southern Utah, could otherwise form a natural boundary keeping them together. Communities like the Avenues, one of the wealthiest in the state, are paired with communities with less resources, like the Navajo Nation that have significantly different interests and needs. 

ADDITIONAL BACKGROUND:

In August, the Third Judicial District Court issued a decision in League of Women Voters of Utah v. Utah State Legislature, which fully reinstated Proposition 4, a state law that was enacted in 2018 through a ballot initiative, and struck down the state’s gerrymandered congressional map. The court ordered the legislature to redraw the state’s congressional map in a manner that adheres to strict guardrails against gerrymandering included in Proposition 4, which bans partisan gerrymandering and created an independent redistricting commission. Additionally, Proposition 4 “require[s] the Legislature to enact or reject a commission recommended plan.” In a victory for voters, the Utah Supreme Court denied the state’s attempt to delay the redraw process last week, allowing it to proceed as the lower court ordered ahead of the 2026 midterms. 

Instead of pursuing a map similar to the fair, commission-proposed maps, each of which included a congressional district anchored in Salt Lake City, the legislature has created maps using an improper and inapplicable mapping metric called “partisan bias,” which produces unreliable results for states like Utah. 

In 2018, Utahns passed Proposition 4, a ballot measure that aimed to reform the state’s redistricting process and parameters for maps to ensure fairness. Those parameters include a ban on partisan gerrymandering and a requirement to keep communities of interest together and minimize the splitting apart of cities, counties, and towns, among other criteria for redistricting. However, leading up to the 2021 redistricting cycle, the Republican-led Utah legislature usurped the newly enacted ballot measure and replaced it with significantly watered-down reforms.

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