President Donald Trump reacted to Utah’s latest redistricting maps ruling that requires the state Legislature to pass new congressional maps by Sept. 24.
Third District Court Judge Dianna Gibson sided with citizen-led initiative groups that filed a lawsuit against the state Legislature, accusing them of submitting gerrymandered maps in 2021.
Trump, like some of Utah’s political leaders, labeled the ruling as a misrepresentation of constitutional interpretation.
“Monday’s Court Order in Utah is absolutely Unconstitutional. How did such a wonderful Republican State like Utah, which I won in every Election, end up with so many Radical Left Judges? All Citizens of Utah should be outraged at their activist Judiciary, which wants to take away our Congressional advantage, and will do everything possible to do so. This incredible State sent four great Republicans to Congress, and we want to keep it that way. The Utah GOP has to STAY UNITED, and make sure their four terrific Republican Congressmen stay right where they are,” he posted on Truth Social.
Sen. Mike Lee, R-Utah, responded to Trump’s comments regarding Utah, adding that judges like Gibson are “trying to disregard the law and the Constitution to turn Utah blue. We can’t let that happen,” he said on X. “Legislative districts are supposed to be drawn by state legislatures, not unelected ‘independent commissions’ designed to give Democrats an edge.”
What Republicans — such as Trump and Lee — fear and Democrats hope for are new maps that consolidate a larger part of Salt Lake City into a single district, rather than the current map that divides it among four congressional districts, providing Democrats with a better chance of winning a seat.
Brian King, chairman of the Utah Democratic Party, told the Deseret News that he was “thrilled” by Gibson’s ruling for that very reason.
“We’ve been working a long time, the people of the state of Utah, but particularly Democrats, have been working a long time to get this redistricting ruling, that the people passed back in 2018, into place in a way that allowed us to have fair maps,” King said. “And I was in the Legislature back in 2021 when we did the redistricting map, and it was very, very frustrating for me to see the Republican supermajority just ignore the independent redistricting maps.”