New Utah voting districts that give Democrats an improved shot at winning a U.S. House seat can be used in this year’s election, a federal court ruled Monday while turning aside a Republican request to block the new map.

The ruling marked the second setback in recent days for Republicans, who also lost an appeal at Utah’s state Supreme Court.

A Utah judge imposed the new districts last November after striking down the congressional districts that the Republican-led Legislature had adopted after the 2020 census. The judge ruled that the Legislature had circumvented standards against partisan gerrymandering that were approved by voters in 2018.

The judge’s ruling thrust Utah into a national redistricting battle being waged among states ahead of the midterm elections. President Donald Trump has pressed Republican-led states such as Texas, Missouri and North Carolina to redraw their districts to give the GOP an advantage in the November elections, prompting Democratic-led states such as California and Virginia to respond with their own redistricting plans.

Republicans currently hold all four of Utah’s U.S. House seats.

The new map imposed last fall by Judge Dianna Gibson improves Democrats’ chances of winning a seat by keeping Salt Lake County almost entirely within one district, instead of dividing the heavily Democratic population center among all four districts, as was previously the case. The map had been submitted to the court by the League of Women Voters of Utah and Mormon Women for Ethical Government — the plaintiffs who challenged the previous districts.