The gerrymandering wars are getting out of control. However, Utah courts have pointed a way off the battlefield.
This summer, gerrymandering has spiraled out of control. Usually, congressional districts are only redrawn after each census. But then President Donald Trump demanded a new congressional map in Texas.
With his party’s control of Congress currently hanging by a thread, Republicans and Democrats alike are desperate to extract more seats by any means possible. Texas passed a new mid-decade plan that could award the GOP an additional five seats. In California, Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom responded with a counterstrike that would deliver five seats for Democrats. And the battles may soon spread to Ohio, Missouri and beyond.
Back in 2018, Utah voters saw the gerrymandering wars coming and protected themselves. They approved Proposition 4, which gave the redistricting power to an independent citizens’ commission, along with mandatory fairness standards.
But Utah lawmakers overrode that law, in an effort that many saw as protecting their power as legislators and as a Republican party as a whole.
Now a Utah judge, following guidance from the state Supreme Court, has ruled that the legislature’s actions were unconstitutional. The judge ordered that a new congressional map be put in place for 2026.
This is good news for everyone in Utah. No one wins a race to the bottom. As Gov. Spencer Cox observed recently, the toxicity in our politics is spiraling out of control. If we continue down this road and ignore all guardrails to pursue partisan advantage, we will make our divisions worse.
The gulf between the parties isn’t going away soon, and gerrymandering removes what little chance there is for competition. In a gerrymandered district, the winner is determined ahead of time. No wonder huge majorities of Americans believe that our politicians don’t represent us. And faith in our institutions crumbles.
The current gerrymandered map cuts the Salt Lake City region into four different slices, each too small to influence a congressional election. Lawmakers who drew the maps insisted that this was so every member from Utah would represent both cities and smaller towns. But the practical effect was to assure that Republicans would win all four of the state’s seats by well over 20 points, despite the fact that one-third of Utahns voted Democratic.
Some might view the recent court ruling, which will likely reunify the Salt Lake City area, as a partisan victory for Democrats. But something more important will happen: by restoring representation for Utah’s largest city, Utah’s interests will be better represented in Washington, D.C.
Republicans shouldn’t fear competition. A commission-drawn map may give Democrats some chance of winning one seat. Voters used to have that chance, and in 2018, when the nation swung toward Democrats, the state did send one Democrat to Washington. But a chance is not a guarantee, and a competitive seat will allow voters to decide in the future which party has best earned their support.
In Utah, the stakes for the national partisan fight are relatively small. Republicans currently have only a three-seat majority in Congress The Texas map may sway as many as five seats. But in Utah, it appears that only one seat will be at stake.
Consider that in a midterm election, an incumbent president’s party loses a median of 13 seats. The last time Donald Trump was president, the loss to his party was even greater — 41 seats. Utah legislators face the question of whether they will look after the rights of their own voters, or continue to fight over just one seat.
When politicians draw districts that one side or another cannot lose, they effectively lock themselves in office. In uncompetitive districts, all the action moves away from the general election and toward party primaries — in which far fewer voters participate — essentially determining the winner for everyone. One of the most serious problems in our politics is that a fraction of a fraction of voters are picking everyone’s member of Congress – and those representatives know that they need only listen to the most extreme voices in their base.
Fair maps are a crucial first step in giving voters a chance to hold their representatives accountable. More competitive elections would benefit all Utahns, regardless of party. Just look at the other states that joined Utah in reforming their elections in 2018 and 2019. Fair commission-drawn maps in Colorado, Michigan, and Virginia have created new competition that didn’t exist in the previous decade.
Research done at Princeton University and the Electoral Innovation Lab shows that the best two roads to a balanced and competitive map are an independent citizen commission or a court order. Utah now has both.
In Ohio and Missouri, where lawmakers ignored the guardrails imposed by voters, there’s likely to be a mid-decade gerrymander. But when lines are drawn and redrawn every few years, it’s impossible for voters to form a meaningful connection with their representatives. Utah voters have had their say and demanded a fair process. The courts have now backed that up. It’s time for politicians to respect this.
This is a rare instance in which doing the right thing involves the least effort. Utah politicians can let the Utah Supreme Court ruling stand. The independent commission has already produced multiple draft maps, and all the legislature has to do is choose one of them.
By respecting the judicial decision, the legislature has a chance to help break the fever on the latest crisis in US democracy.
Sam Wang is a professor at Princeton University, where he directs the Princeton Gerrymandering Project. He also directs the Electoral Innovation Lab, an independent, nonpartisan organization that applies science to repairing democracy.