Solidly Republican Utah has a solidly Republican congressional delegation, but a state judge’s ruling on Monday could change that.
Utah Third District Judge Dianna Gibson, overseeing a court case involving congressional districts, declared that a map drawn by unelected activist groups would serve for the state’s congressional districts heading into the 2026 midterm elections.
And Republicans are talking impeachment.
I have opened a bill to file articles of impeachment against Judge Gibson for gross abuse of power, violating the separation of powers and failing to uphold her oath of office to the Utah Constitution.
— Matt MacPherson (@UtahVote4Matt) November 11, 2025
“I have opened a bill to file articles of impeachment against Judge Gibson for gross abuse of power, violating the separation of powers and failing to uphold her oath of office to the Utah Constitution,” Utah State Rep. Matt McPherson, a Republican, announced in a post on the social media platform X.
The Utah Republican Party was equally incensed.
In a post on X that attacked Gibson’s decision as “the arrogance of a judge playing King from the bench,” Utah GOP Chairman Robert Axson accused Gibson of overruling legitimate decisions by the lawmakers who are elected to make them.
Statement on Judge Gibson’s Activist Map Decision#utgop #utpol pic.twitter.com/2pfKnjE96a
— UtahGOP (@UtahGOP) November 11, 2025
Did this judge overstep her authority?
“We invite Judge Gibson to leave the bench and run for the legislature to pursue her policy preferences,” the post stated.
At the heart of the dispute, according to University of Utah public radio station KUER-FM, is Proposition 4, a voter-approved referendum from 2018 that banned partisan gerrymandering.
In August, Gibson threw out a map drawn up by the state legislature, ruling that it violated Proposition 4, KUER reported.
The state was faced with getting a new map by a Nov. 10 deadline set by Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson, according to KUER. (In Utah, the lieutenant governor also functions as chief elections officer and as secretary of state).
🚨 A Utah judge just threw out the GOP’s redistricting map — and practically handed Democrats a safe blue seat.
Judge Dianna Gibson ruled that the Republicans’ map didn’t meet the state’s nonpartisan redistricting standards. pic.twitter.com/Fc4MpaMUVx
— Daily Caller (@DailyCaller) November 11, 2025
“Gibson had before her one map submitted by the heavily Republican legislature and two from plaintiffs in the lawsuit,” KUER reported. “According to experts who testified in the case, the lawmakers’ version had four districts favoring Republicans though not by nearly as much as the current map. The plaintiffs’ maps each had a district leaning Democratic.”
That district “leaning Democratic” is in Salt Lake County, the most liberal section of a conservative state.
Salt Lake was one of only three Utah counties — out of 29 — that went for Vice President Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, according to NBC News.
(The other two were Summit County, which is adjacent to Salt Lake County, and Grand County, on the state’s eastern border with Democratic-run Colorado.)
It’s important to note that the redistricting fight in Utah is unrelated to the redistricting battles going on elsewhere in the country, in states like California and Texas.
The lawsuit brought by the League of Women Voters of Utah, a group called Mormon Women for Ethical Government, and individual Utah voters was first filed in 2022, KUER reported.
But the lawsuit is caught up in the national fight over redistricting, and could be guaranteeing Utah a Democratic congressional seat in an election where even one seat could tip the House majority — and the remainder of the Trump presidency.
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