Author: Jesse

A Utah congressional district has shifted from a Republican stronghold to what analysts now classify as “Solid Democrat” following a landmark court ruling that mandated a new congressional map.

In a ruling on Monday, Judge Dianna Gibson struck down a GOP-drawn congressional map in favor of one that would make at least one of the state’s four congressional seats—currently held by Republicans—much more competitive for the Democrats.

Following the ruling, Cook Political Report’s analysis now shows that Utah’s 1st District, previously classified as a safe Republican seat, has now shifted to a “Solid Democrat” district.

Why It Matters

The shift offers a rare pickup opportunity for Democrats in a heavily red state. With control of the U.S. House likely to come down to just a handful of seats in 2026, even a single new Democratic-leaning district could prove decisive.

The ruling also underscores how courts are increasingly stepping in to undo partisan maps, reshaping the political battlefield ahead of the midterms and testing the balance between voter-backed reforms and legislative power.

What To Know

Under the new map, Utah’s 1st District is now entirely within Salt Lake County, an area that would have voted for Kamala Harris by 24 points last year, according to Cook Political Report.

Utah’s 1st District is so solidly Democrat that Senator John Curtis, who represents the state’s 3rd district and won 63 percent of the vote in 2024, would have lost the 1st district by 14 points.

Meanwhile, the other three Utah districts remain solidly Republican and may even become more entrenched, under the terms of the new map, Cook Political Report’s analysis shows.

It comes after Judge Gibson struck down Utah’s GOP-drawn congressional map, finding that it violated Proposition 4—a 2018 voter-approved initiative that established an independent redistricting commission aimed at preventing partisan gerrymandering.

Gibson said the map “fails to abide by and conform with” Proposition 4, blocking it from being used in the 2026 elections. Instead, she ordered the adoption of an alternative plan submitted by the plaintiffs, referred to as “Map 1.”

Democrats in the state legislature welcomed the new decision, calling it “a win for every Utahn” and expressing “a deep sense of hope and relief,” according to local media. Republicans were less impressed.

Utah State Senator Daniel McCay called Gibson’s decision “biased.”

“I’m not sure how months of analysis produced an opinion so biased absent a predetermined outcome,” McCay said on X.

Meanwhile, state representative Matt MacPherson said he has introduced a measure to impeach Judge Gibson, despite no evidence of corruption or personal wrongdoing against the judge.

Utah GOP Governor Spencer Cox said he supports the Republican-controlled state legislature appealing Judge Gibson’s ruling.

Judge Gibson’s decision marked the second major victory for Democrats in nationwide redistricting battles, coming just one week after California voters backed a ballot measure projected to give Democrats as many as five additional congressional seats.

California’s decision to redraw its congressional map was widely seen as a direct response to Texas’ aggressive redistricting push earlier this year.

In Texas, Republicans—encouraged by President Donald Trump—have approved a new map designed to create up to five more GOP-leaning districts, which will reinforce their slim U.S. House majority. The move follows a two-week legislative walkout by Democratic lawmakers who were trying to block the change.

If current redistricting forecasts hold, the congressional advantages gained by Democrats in California and Republicans in Texas could largely offset one another in next year’s midterm elections.

However, the GOP may still emerge slightly ahead. Recent map changes in Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio are expected to give Republicans a modest edge—potentially adding three to four seats nationwide. Missouri and North Carolina’s revised boundaries each favor one additional Republican pickup, while a new Ohio map, approved in October, could deliver two more seats to the party’s column.

What People Are Saying

Utah Governor Spencer Cox said on X: “The Utah Constitution clearly states that it is the responsibility of the Legislature to divide the state into congressional districts. While I respect the Court’s role in our system, no judge, and certainly no advocacy group, can usurp that constitutional authority. For this reason, I fully support the Legislature appealing the Court’s decision.”

Judge Dianna Gibson’s ruling: “The Court finds that Map C was drawn with the purpose to favor Republicans—a conclusion that follows from even S.B. 1011’s metric for partisan intent—and it unduly favors Republicans and disfavors Democrats. In short, Map C does not comply with Utah law.”  

Utah House and Senate Democratic lawmakers in a statement: “This is a win for every Utahn…we took an oath to serve the people of Utah, and fair representation is the truest measure of that promise.”   

What Happens Next

The decision is likely to shake up Utah politics and poses a setback for Republicans, who had anticipated an easy victory across all congressional districts. Nationally, Democrats need to flip just three seats to reclaim control of the U.S. House of Representatives.

Make it 2-0 for the Utah women’s basketball team against in-state opponents early in the 2025-26 season.

Four days after beating Utah State in Logan by 37 points, the Utes returned to the Huntsman Center on Tuesday night and handed Utah Valley a 75-52 loss.

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“Good home win against the in-state team in Utah Valley. Have a lot of respect for (UVU coach) Dan (Nielson) and his staff and and how they do what they do. And I knew they were going to have a game plan, and they’re going to come in here and test us,” said Utah coach Gavin Petersen.

“… Really proud of our team putting 40 minutes together, and again, just tremendous respect for what they do. I think they’re going to win a lot of games in their conference. I think we’ll reflect back and be like, ‘Hey, man, that was a pretty good win.’”

How the game transpired

Utah made three 3-pointers in the first quarter and had a 13-12 lead after one period. That included six points from Maty Wilke on a pair of 3s.

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The Utes pushed that lead out to as many as 10 points at 29-19 in the second quarter as the Wolverines had turnover issues in the period that led to a scoring drought.

Neither team scored a field goal over the final 3:58 of the first half, as both teams missed their final four field goal attempts of the half.

In the third period, the Utes weathered a 7-0 run from UVU before pushing its lead back out to 16 at 48-32. Utah went into the final period leading 52-39.

The Wolverines stuck around and made it a nine-point game early in the fourth, but the Utes were able to fend off their in-state opponent and they immediately pushed the lead back up to 15 with back-to-back 3-pointers.

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Utah used a 16-3 run to pull away before winning by 23.

Utah’s seniors led the way in a vintage Utes performance

Lani White and Wilke were two of the driving forces behind the victory for Utah in a win that felt like a vintage Utes performance.

Wilke helped jumpstart the Utes’ offense early, as she hit a pair of first-quarter 3-pointers. She ended with 15 points, while adding three steals, two rebounds and two assists.

Wilke hit a 3 in the fourth quarter, her first bucket in 20 minutes of game time, to give Utah a 61-46 lead with seven minutes to play.

White had 5 points in the opening quarter and ended up with a team-high 16 points, as she often came up with well-timed buckets to help keep UVU from seriously challenging for its first-ever win over the Utes.

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White also had five rebounds, two steals and a pair of assists.

One area where both struggled was turnovers — Wilke had a team-high five and White added four.

Both were solid from 3-point range, though — Wilke made 5 of 10 from 3, while White was 3 for 6.

Utah, as a whole, shot 13 of 25 from 3, as ball movement and a high assist rate (21 assists on 28 made baskets) defined the night. The Utes shot 54.9% for the game, compared to 32.8% for UVU. All 10 Utah players that got in the game scored points.

Wilke noted that Utah was able to successfully attack UVU’s 1-3-1 defense and find the open shooters.

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“We obviously knew they’re going to do some 1-3-1, and as shooters, that always makes me smile, because usually those corner threes are open,” she said. “And I think our teammates did a good job when we were being aggressive and moving the ball to find those open 3s and I feel like that’s where a lot of our shots came from.

“And then (in) the second half, when we were moving the ball, making extra passes, that’s Utah basketball. That’s where we got a lot of open 3s. I’m just proud of how we picked (it) up in the second half and just kind of stuck to our principles.”

Has Utah found another standout forward?

Junior Chyra Evans, who transferred to Utah from Michigan, missed all of last season due to injury. She was unavailable for the team’s season opener as well, though she played last Friday at Utah State.

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For those unfamiliar with Evans’ game, she gave them a show Tuesday night.

Evans was the team’s third double-digit scorer, as she added 10 points on 4 of 5 shooting, as well as going 2 for 2 from the free-throw line.

Evans added five rebounds, two assists and a blocked shot in 18 minutes of play, while finishing with a plus/minus of +12.

Her monster block in the third quarter earned one of the loudest cheers of the night, and it led to a Brooke Walker 3-pointer on the other end to extend the lead to 48-32.

“The boxing analogy, you know ring rust, I think it’s real,” Petersen said in reference to Evans, who’s finally getting her chance to build chemistry with teammates on the floor.

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“I think she’s still working that out, but she shows signs, whether it’s in practice or in games, how good and what an impact she could be for our program.”

Junior Reese Ross, as usual, was a force inside. Even though she had just 1 point, Ross led the Utes with 11 tough-minded rebounds and added a team high-tying four assists and a blocked shot.

Behind Ross’s big night on the boards, Utah out-rebounded the Wolverines 38-29.

“That kid plays hard,” White said of Ross. “She doesn’t have to score. She had 11 rebounds. She dove on the floor, she sacrificed her body for our team. I mean, that alone, I want to play with Reese that much more just because … she’s going to play hard every night.”

What it means going forward

The Utes are 3-0 after beating Sioux Falls, Utah State and UVU over the first eight days of the season.

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It sets up a matchup with No. 25 Washington on Saturday at the Huntsman Center (2 p.m. MST, ESPN+). The Huskies are 2-0 on the year and most recently beat Montana 87-56 on Monday.

Last year, Utah went to Seattle and beat the Huskies 67-57.

This will be a solid chance for Utah, which has made the NCAA Tournament four straight years but is projected to finish eighth in the Big 12, to add to its resume in non-conference play.

One concerning issue right now, though, is turnovers.

Utah had 12 in the first half against UVU, including seven in the opening quarter. The Utes ended up with a season-high 22 on the night.

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“The first half, (we had) a lot of unforced turnovers. Some of that lingered and carried over to the second half, but our execution was a lot better,” Petersen said.

Through three games, Utah is averaging 19.6 turnovers per game.

That isn’t costing Utah at the moment, but if the Utes do the same against tougher opponents — like Washington this weekend, Syracuse or UConn at the Basketball Hall of Fame Women’s Showcase the weekend after that or in Big 12 play — it’s likely going to hurt them more than it is now.

A Utah judge late Monday night rejected new congressional district lines drawn by Republican state lawmakers, instead approving a map with a solidly Democratic seat ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

The ruling is a major blow for Republicans, who had designed a map to protect the state’s all-GOP congressional delegation. And it gives Democrats a boost as they attempt to respond to Republicans’ mid-decade redistricting efforts around the country and win control of the House in 2026.

The court-ordered map drawn by Republican state lawmakers would have resulted in four districts that were solidly or leaning Republican, though two would have been more competitive than the current iteration.

But Utah District Court Judge Dianna Gibson tossed that map in favor of one suggested by the plaintiffs in the case. She concluded that Republicans had impermissibly considered political data and gerrymandered in favor of their own party.

In its place, she chose a congressional map that includes a Democratic-leaning district anchored in northern Salt Lake County. According to court filings, it is approximately 43% Republican. Utah’s current map splits the populous Salt Lake County into four districts.

The ruling is the latest in a yearslong legal battle over Utah’s anti-gerrymandering rules, which started long before the national redistricting arms race that has played out this year.

Utah voters narrowly approved a ballot initiative in 2018 that created an independent redistricting commission that recommends congressional maps and wrote anti-gerrymandering rules into law. The GOP-controlled Legislature has worked to circumvent the changes by weakening the commission and ignoring its proposed map after the 2020 census.

Advocates including the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government filed a lawsuit arguing that Republican lawmakers were gerrymandering in violation of the law. A district court agreed with the plaintiffs and ordered the Legislature to draw a new map.

Utah Republican Party Chair Robert Axson slammed Gibson’s ruling, saying it showed the 2018 ballot measure, known as “Prop 4,” needs to be repealed.

“Prop 4 empowered unelected activists to overrule Utah voters and their elected representatives,” Axson said in a statement. “This is bigger than than maps — it is a direct threat to our constitutional order. Prop 4 created this confusion; this ruling escalates it into a constitutional crisis.”

Meanwhile, Democrats around the country celebrated the ruling.

“An enlightened Utah judge made clear last night that the people of Utah — not MAGA politicians — should decide who represents them in Congress,” House Minority Leader Hakeen Jeffries, D-N.Y., said in a statement. “The court correctly enacted a fair map that reflects the geographical composition of Salt Lake County, instead of the current map that deliberately cracks communities of interest to artificially hand Republicans complete control of the congressional delegation.”

The court’s overnight ruling came just before the state’s election officials need to start preparing for next year’s primary elections Tuesday morning.

Utah and Ohio are the only two states that are required to redraw their maps this year. But they’ve had plenty of company, with Texas, Missouri and North Carolina enacting new maps to shore up the GOP’s narrow U.S. House majority at President Donald Trump’s urging.

In response, voters in California last week approved a new map designed to net Democrats up to five House seats. And Virginia Democrats last month took the first step toward a mid-decade redistricting effort.

Several Republican- and Democratic-led states are also considering redrawing their maps.

This article was originally published on NBCNews.com

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — A study named Utah the second-most charitable state in the U.S., based on factors like volunteering, service, and charitable giving.

According to a recent study from WalletHub, Utah is the second-most charitable state in the country. The study compared the 50 states and the District of Columbia across 17 “key indicators of charitable behavior.” Below are the five most charitable states.

Giving Season: Volunteer and service ideas for the holiday season

The 17 indicators were organized into two categories: charitable giving and volunteering/service.

WalletHub says that the Beehive State ranked number one for volunteering and service, which was based on metrics like volunteer rate, share of population collecting/distributing clothes and food, and volunteer hours per capita.

According to the study, Utah has the highest volunteer rate in the entire U.S. at roughly 47%, and the highest percentage of the population that donates their time. Additionally, 68% of Utahns reported that they helped neighbors with tasks like house sitting, watching children, or lending items in the past year.

The Beehive State ranked a little lower when it came to charitable giving, landing the 19th spot on the list. This is likely because, according to WalletHub, Utah has the fewest charities per capita out of all the states.

Despite this bringing the overall score down, people in the Beehive State donate the second-most in the country out of their personal income — roughly 3.5% of their adjusted gross income on average. Utah also has the third-highest percentage of the population that donates money.

To learn more about the methodology of this study and see how other states ranked, visit WalletHub’s website.

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For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC4) — Two contestants from Utah competed on “Squid Game: The Challenge” this season, participating in a series of high-stakes games in pursuit of a cash prize worth nearly $5 million.

Contestants Britt Christensen and Lizzie McGee described their experience on the show.

“My favorite game was the six-legged pentathlon,” Christensen said. “I thought, well, that might be dangerous, you know, handcuffing six people together by their ankles, and I just, it wasn’t even on my radar. And the team building that we got to hear about and see from all the other players, I mean, I really almost sent my team home with my Gonggi game.”

Christensen added that their team still made it, despite her lacking performance. She said her team members were very supportive, giving her the courage to keep going.

“That was a really fun team bonding moment for sure,” Christensen said.

McGee added that she soaked in the whole experience.

“When I went into the show, I was really, really nervous for ‘Red Light, Green Light,’” McGee said. “I thought that out of all the games, when I watched the series, I thought Red Light, Green Light is gonna be my demise. I don’t even know if I would be able to have the stamina or figure it out.”

McGee said she had heard that Red Light, Green Light was difficult, with eight hours of filming. She said season one contestants claimed they just stood still for 45 minutes at a time.

“As a theater nerd, I loved Mingle,” McGee said.

The game requires players to form groups of a specific number, called out by a machine, and enter a room within 30 seconds to avoid elimination.

McGee added that the fun part of the whole experience was how difficult it was, and how much being there felt like being inside the show.

“I walk in and the set was exactly like the show,” she said. “I felt like I was inside my TV, experiencing this experience, and I couldn’t stop geeking out. And I was really lucky. My team really stuck together and knew the numbers and could figure it out.”

McGee said while the whole experience was indeed stressful and a bit crazy, she had a lot of fun.

You can watch the full interview with Christensen and McGee on News4Utah+ here.

Latest headlines:

Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to ABC4 Utah.