On the house!

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⏰ Tick Tock

11 days - First day candidates (except congressional candidates) can file for the 2026 election. (1/2/2026)
29 days - Start of the 2026 Utah Legislature (1/20/2026)
77 days - First day congressional candidates can file to run for the 2026 election. (3/9/2026)
85 days - Neighborhood caucus night. (3/17/2026)
124 days - Utah Democratic Party's state nominating convention (4/25/2026)
183 days - Utah's 2026 primary election (6/23/2026)
316 days - 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026)
1,051 days - 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028)

🎯 Monday's lead

Utah’s redistricting brawl is down to the clock and the calendar: the Legislature wants a fast path to appeal Judge Dianna Gibson’s decision throwing out its congressional map, and the plaintiffs say that window has already closed.

Lawmakers are pressing Third District Judge Dianna Gibson to finalize two key rulings—her August order invalidating the 2021 map and her November decision choosing the plaintiffs’ remedial map—arguing they need a formal, final judgment to take the fight to the Utah Supreme Court (and possibly the U.S. Supreme Court).

Plaintiffs counter that the Legislature blew the 30-day window for a Rule 54(b) appeal, and they’re now pressuring Gibson to issue a final ruling so they can get another bite at the apple. They also point out a new state law lets government entities immediately appeal when a judge blocks a law on constitutional grounds—exactly what Gibson did. The Legislature didn’t use it.

The Legislature says plaintiffs are slow-walking the case to box out any chance at an appeal.

In a filing late last week, legislative attorneys argued they couldn’t appeal the August order while the remedial process was still underway, and that Gibson’s November selection of the plaintiffs’ map landed too close to the candidate filing window to make an appeal practical. They’ve since moved the filing deadline for congressional candidates to March, which they say makes an appeal viable.

“Any further appellate review would have been illusory and impractical because November 10 was the Lieutenant Governor’s deadline under then-existing election deadlines to have a map in place to ensure the orderly administration of the 2026 congressional election.”

Translation: They say they moved as fast as they could, and there are still big constitutional questions on the table.

“Time is of the essence…there is no just reason for delay.”

Gibson is expected to rule on the legislature's request in the coming days. If she says no, the path for an appeal gets steeper—with only 11 weeks until the new candidate filing deadline.