Could Utah voters be the one to decide who controls Congress after the midterm elections?

It's unusual, obviously, fo Utah to be in this circumstance.

Im Lauren Steinbrecher with PBS Utah.

We've been reporting on the redistricting battle in the Beehive State, including a judge's recent decision on a new congressional map that set Salt Lake County largely in its own district.

Utah isn't alone in its redistricting fight.

With the pressure of congressional control on the line.

University of Utah political science professor Matthew Burbank explains.

other states are rolling out new maps as well.

Right now, Republicans have a majority but it's a really slim majority.

So a few seat one way or the other can change who controls Congress.

Whats setting Utah apart in all of this?

He say the redistricting process here is playing out much differently than in other states.

What we have here i a court-ordered redistricting.

Whereas in what we've seen in Texas, and Missouri, and other states, is largely that the redistricting has been done to try to strengthen the advantage of the of the majority party.

Burbank points out this isn't just a trend in red states.

California just passed an initiative saying, in essence, were going to suspend our current lines.

We're going to allow them to be, gerrymandered in a partisan way.

In Utah, instead of strengthening the advantage of the majority party, Burbank says the new ma makes at least one of the seats more competitive.

And if a Democratic candidate wins?

That could be nationally significant.

Perhaps Democrats are able to pick up a seat, one of the four seats in Utah, might mean that Democrats would have a majority or that might give them a slightly larger majority.

Meaning what voters decide here could change the landscape in Congress.

Its going to be interesting to see how that works out.

To see our other report on Utah's redistricting process and other political and community topics.

Head to PBS Utah dot org slash Utah Insight and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube.