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Republicans plan to let Democrats win a small battle or two but force them to lose the overall war on Wednesday as the Legislature's Redistricting Committee debates new Utah Senate districts.

One small win for Democrats is that Republicans have agreed not to merge Sen. Luz Robles' multicultural district in Rose Park into a new Republican-majority seat with the conservative Davis County district of Sen. Dan Liljenquist, R-Bountiful, said Sen. Ralph Okerlund, R-Monroe, Senate chairman of the committee.

But Okerlund said Republicans do plan to add a seat in Utah County by consolidating the Senate's current seven Democratic districts — all in Salt Lake County — into six, eliminating one. Okerlund said Republicans intend to allow Democrats the consolation of figuring out themselves how to redraw the district lines with one fewer seat.

Sen. Gene Davis, D-Salt Lake City, a committee member, said Democrats do not believe that cutting their district count is needed nor fair, and he said on Tuesday that Democrats were still talking about how to fight that — including potentially laying the groundwork for a court challenge.

However, he said, "We understand the political realities. The political reality is they have the votes, and we don't. Will we try to make things work? Yes, I think we will."

Sen. Ben McAdams, D-Salt Lake City, added, "I don't know that there are a lot of options that we have to fight it."

Republicans outnumber Democrats on the committee by a 14-5 margin. They outnumber them in the Utah Senate by a 22-7 margin, and in the Utah House by 58-17. The full Legislature is scheduled to meet Oct. 3 to debate and adopt new maps being finalized now by the Redistricting Committee.

The committee is scheduled to debate the Senate map on Wednesday and debate maps for the state House and Congress in later meetings.

The "base map" that Okerlund said he will propose for the state Senate on Wednesday is online on the committee's website: redistrictutah.org. He said that he expects some tweaking to it but said it is probably close to what the final map will be.

Okerlund said Republicans were convinced by Democrats and public hearings in Rose Park and Davis County that combining the districts of Robles and Liljenquist — as proposed in some early maps — was not wise nor wanted, so they worked to keep them separate.

"We had to do some serious moving to make that happen. But I think we have that worked out," Okerlund said.

He said he does not believe the map forces any incumbent to face another incumbent — with one exception. That is the proposed shrinking of the seven Democratic districts in Salt Lake County — where population growth has been slow — to add a new district in Utah County, where population growth has been fast.

He said he will propose allowing Democrats to redraw Salt Lake County districts, giving them a Sophie's Choice about which of their incumbents must run against each other.

Davis and McAdams said they have called their members to see if any planned not to seek re-election, to possibly make redrawing easier. None has yet said they plan to sit out the next election.

Democrats were still undecided Tuesday about whether and how to fight the proposal — including discussions about whether to challenge the plan in court, Davis said.

Utah Democratic Chairman Jim Dabakis has said the party will challenge any plans that it believes are unfair.

Davis said Democrats believe alternatives exist to help Republicans. McAdams said he worries GOP plans will give Democrats less representation in the Legislature than their numbers deserve.

"But being a political realist, we don't have the numbers, and I can count. As tough as that is to say, it is a reality, and we have to look at that. We have to play the cards that are dealt," Davis said.

Okerlund said he listened carefully during public hearings around the state. "I think people have been very realistic and understood the process well enough to work with us and work within the system and get some good districts," he said. —

Redistricting meeting

P The Legislature's Redistricting Committee will meet at 9 a.m. Wednesday, in Room 210 of the Senate Office Building, northeast of the Capitol, to debate and pass new districts for the Utah Senate.