⏰ Tick Tock
Days to Utah's 2025 municipal primary elections (8/12/2025) - 33
Days until Election Day (11/4/2025) - 117
Days until the 2026 midterm elections (11/3/2026) - 481
Days until the 2028 presidential election (11/7/2028) - 1,216
What I’m thinking about this morning…
While Utah languishes in a seemingly interminable wait for Third District Judge Dianna Gibson's gerrymandering verdict, it’s worth paying attention to what’s happening in Texas.
What I’m thinking about this morning…
While Utah languishes in a seemingly interminable wait for Third District Judge Dianna Gibson's gerrymandering verdict, it’s worth paying attention to what’s happening in Texas.
Faced with the possibility of Republicans losing their House majority in the 2026 midterms, Texas Republicans are considering what some might call a cartographic coup d’etat — a special session later this month to redraw political boundaries.
Texas Governor Greg Abbott added the redistricting issue to an already jam-packed special session agenda. In addition to possibly redrawing maps, legislators will consider measures in response to the deadly Hill Country floods, regulations on THC products, a so-called transgender bathroom bill, and a crackdown on abortion pills.
Texas is not set to redistrict until after the 2030 census. According to the New York Times, the Trump administration started pushing Texas Republicans to draw new maps last month, hoping to flip control of some Democratic districts while shoring up vulnerable Republicans. The move is reportedly driven by concerns that if Democrats were to regain the majority in the House, it would derail President Trump’s agenda for the second half of his term and embolden investigations into his administration.
If Texas Republicans decide to go through with drawing new maps, Democrats are reportedly discussing redrawing maps in blue states like California in retaliation.
This is not the first time that Texas has redrawn political maps outside the normal once-a-decade redistricting cycle.
In 2002, Republicans won complete control of the Texas legislature for the first time in 130 years. The new GOP majority moved to redraw the political boundaries in 2003. Democrats did not have enough votes to stop it, leading many of them to flee the state at various times to deny a quorum to prevent action on the bill.
After three attempts and a month-long game of political hide-and-seek – with Democratic lawmakers ensconced in New Mexico like political refugees – the new Texas maps were finally approved.
Thursday Morning’s headlines:
Utah and the West
Utah Sen. Mike Lee floats new theory about Jeffrey Epstein — He was a government asset. [Utah Political Watch]
California Congresswoman Sara Jacobs to join Utah Dems for town hall in Sandy. [KSL]
Commission won’t reconsider Rocky Mountain Power’s rate hike, calls request “offensive.” [Utah News Dispatch]
Utah sees a week without new measles cases, as the national tally hits a record. [Salt Lake Tribune]
Utah sees sharpest fertility rate decline in nation as costs of parenthood increase. [KUTV]
Lehi mayor questions transit proposal, urges residents to study & weigh in. [Fox 13]
Huntsman Cancer Institute CEO stepping down. [Deseret News]
National
Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer is warning Republicans that they are risking a government shutdown if they ram through cuts to public broadcasting and foreign aid. [Axios]
Younger Democrats are growing more frustrated with the leaders of their party hanging on to the status quo. [New York Times]
Six Secret Service agents were suspended over their conduct during last year’s attempted assassination of Donald Trump. [ABC News]
The number of people deported by the Trump administration is still lagging far behind numbers from the Obama administration. [NBC News]
“Maybe they have to pay a price for that.” - President Trump responding to a question about reports that former CIA director John Brennan and former CIA director James Comey are being investigated for allegedly making false statements to Congress during the Russia probe. [Axios]
Comey was tracked by the Secret Service and other law enforcement after he posted an image on Instagram that Trump’s allies said was an assassination threat directed against the president. [New York Times]
FEMA’s response to the flooding in Texas was delayed by more than 72 hours because of a rule imposed by Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem that any spending over $100,000 requires her personal sign-off. [CNN]
California is still waiting for Congress to provide disaster relief funds to help recover from the devastating wildfires in January. Meanwhile, the Trump administration and Republicans in Congress are offering full support to help Texas following deadly flooding. [Washington Post]
Private prison companies are poised to cash in from the massive tax cuts and spending bill signed by President Trump. [NOTUS]
International
President Trump announced a 50% tariff on Brazil because of the prosecution of the country’s former president, Jair Bolsonaro. Brazilian officials said they would respond with “reciprocity.” [CNBC]
The Trump administration is pushing more African companies to take in migrants deported from the U.S. [Wall Street Journal]
Economy
Sales for the first day of Amazon’s Prime Day summer sale were down 41% from last year. [Bloomberg]
Technology
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, is close to releasing an AI-powered web browser to challenge Google’s Chrome. [Reuters]
Healthcare
There have been more measles cases in the U.S. in 2025 than in any other year since the the disease was declared eradicated in 2000. [New York Times]