In Utah, a group that helped prompt the redistricting says it’s acting on faith

Emma Petty Addams is a classically trained pianist and a piano teacher. But right now, that part of her life is on pause.

“That’s kind of who I am. And once I can go back to that, I will. Just at the moment, this thing called democracy – democratic republic is important,” Addams said with a laugh during an interview.

Addams is the co-executive director of Mormon Women for Ethical Government – known as MWEG. The group is among the plaintiffs in a lawsuit that is now forcing lawmakers to redistrict Utah’s four congressional seats.

Addams spoke in her Salt Lake City suburban home. She was joined by one of the individual plaintiffs in the case, MWEG member Vicki Reid, who sees the suit as in keeping with her faith as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

“I think the one thing that comes to my mind is a hymn that we have which has, “‘Do what is right, let the consequences follow,'” she said.

The sheet music for the hymn is on Addams’ piano. The consequences are playing out this week in the Utah Legislature and maybe soon across the country.

The redistricting comes amid Trump’s battle for the U.S. House

Under a court order prompted by the lawsuit, the legislature on Monday passed a new district map that improves Democrats’ chances of winning a House seat in the heavily Republican state next year. The map still has to be reviewed by a judge.

This comes as President Trump has set off a national redistricting race by pushing Republican states to redistrict and help their party maintain its hold on Congress. Trump has decried the court’s ruling, saying Utahns should be “outraged at their activist judiciary.”

While Utah’s Republican lawmakers are abiding by the court, they aren’t happy about it. Republican State Rep. Candice Pierucci said in an interview that lawmakers better represent the state than the plaintiffs “that have their own donor groups and their own members that they are beholden to.”

“They do not report back to the voters of Utah,” she said.

Usually, states redistrict at the start of the decade when the census results come in. But Trump has gotten lawmakers in Texas and Missouri to redistrict for the benefit of Republican candidates. Other states could follow.

MWEG’s involvement came before the Trump redistricting race

MWEG has been working on redistricting for years. The group says it formed in 2017 amid “dehumanizing behavior” in government, and claims some 9,000 members across the country. Most are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Addams said about 40 percent are Republicans – including herself – and 34 percent are Democrats. The rest are independents or in third parties.

Laura Eyi, the group’s public relations manager, acknowledges members often don’t agree with each other, but their religion keeps them connected.

“As members of the church step up to get engaged in their communities and in politics in general, they’re going to do so in a way that honors the dignity of the person that they disagree with,” Eyi said. “That really comes from a place of faith.”

They tend to focus on the democratic process and that brought them to redistricting.

“In states like Texas and other places, it’s a partisan fight. It’s between Democrats and R’s,” Addams explained. “Here in Utah, it is a cross-partisan, principled effort to try to put forth the best version of representative government we can possibly have.”

In 2018, Utah voters backed the formation of an independent commission to do the state’s redistricting. It was part of an effort to minimize partisan gerrymandering that carves up seats to the benefit of one party or another.

But Utah’s Republican supermajority Legislature, instead, took back redistricting power, largely nullifying the ballot initiative. Lawmakers then passed a map that split Salt Lake County – the most Democratic area – into four other Congressional districts.

MWEG, the League of Women Voters and the individual plaintiffs sued in 2022, leading a Utah district court judge to rule the Legislature had overstepped its authority and ordering the redistricting now.

The latest district map will go back before a judge

Reid, a member of MWEG who identifies as a moderate Republican, joined the suit with her Democratic husband.

“Yes, Utah’s a red state. That means that in a red state, more than 50% of the people voted for fair maps,” Reid said. “The Legislature has a responsibility to listen to people. And that just wasn’t happening.”

Currently, Republicans hold all four House seats. Republicans dispute that the state constitution allows voters to directly rule on redistricting. “The Utah Constitution gives the sole responsibility and power to draw maps with the state legislature, period,” Pierucci told NPR. They vow to take the case to higher courts if needed.

For now, though, the map passed by the Legislature this week will go back before the judge for review. MWEG and the other plaintiffs will be allowed to weigh in. Addams says the lawmakers still didn’t meet the non-partisan requirements set out by voters.

“MWEG joins thousands of Utahns who expressed comments in opposition to the legislature’s partisan gerrymandered map that violates those requirements,” Addams told NPR in a statement.