Salt Lake City, Utah - A federal court in Utah has denied a Republican bid to block the use of congressional map that could send another Democrat to the US House.

In the Monday ruling, a three-judge panel for the US District Court for the District of Utah denied a preliminary injunction that would have stopped the map from being used in the 2026 midterms.

The decision followed a state Supreme Court ruling last Friday denying a GOP appeal to overturn the map.

Utah voters had approved the creation of an independent redistricting commission via ballot measure in 2018, intended to avoid partisan gerrymandering.

Two years later, Utah lawmakers passed a bill aiming to reduce the power of the commission and to allow the legislature to impose the maps.

A state judge in November struck down the map drawn by the legislature after the 2020 Census and instead approved one likely to give Democrats another US House seat.

The approved map was submitted by the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government. It keeps most of Democratic-majority Salt Lake County within one district, instead of splitting it into four separate districts as before.

Utah Republicans currently hold all four of the state's seats in Congress' lower chamber.

"This federal lawsuit sought to undo a lawful, court-ordered congressional map. The court's decision to reject that effort is an important affirmation that the rule of law matters," Emma Petty Addams, co-executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government, said in a statement.

"Utah voters deserve fair representation, and this victory is about protecting those voters – not politicians."