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SALT LAKE CITY -- Utah is one of the states gaining House seats as a result of the 2010 census, the U.S. Department of Commerce announced Tuesday.
As expected, Utah will now have a fourth representative in the U.S. House. Now, it will be up to the Utah Legislature to create the four boundaries, equally dividing the state four ways, with about 716,000 people in each district.
Fraught with politics, the idea of an independent redistricting commission has failed repeatedly in Utah.
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Wimmer, one of the Legislature's leading conservatives, said they've been urging him to run for months because of his record of supporting a constitutionally limited government.Political science professor Tim Chambless, said, "It's very time consuming, it's very messy, it's probably the most political action a state legislature takes, that is redrawing its own districts."
Kirk Jowers, with the Hinckley Institute of Politics, said, "Each representative brings a certain amount of power to our state as well as committee assignments, and allows our voice to be heard better. It also adds to our electoral college vote."
Many people felt Utah has been under-represented for 10 years since overseas missionaries are not part of the population count. They weren't included this time, either.
Census bureau director Robert Groves said, "The procedures used in counting residents in 2010 with regard to the missionary population were exactly the same as 2000. They were those out of the country were not counted."
The once-in-a-decade population count reapportioned 12 House seats nationwide, in 18 states. Other states gaining seats were Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada, South Carolina and Texas in addition to Utah.
States losing seats are Illinois, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, New York, Ohio and Pennsylvania.
The census found the population of the United States had grown 9.7 percent since 2000, to 308,745,538. The regions with the most growth were the South and the West.
Utah's population rose 23 percent to more than 2.7 million people.
Utah had fought unsuccessfully in court a decade ago to get a fourth seat, arguing that LDS Church missionaries overseas should have been counted.
Another important aspect of the new population numbers is the amount of federal money flowing to states.
"We will be using this data soon in those federal programs for directing money to make sure that the funds flow where the people are," said Census Bureau Director Robert Groves.
Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said Tuesday the "seat has been a long time coming. The U.S. House of Representatives and Utahns will benefit from having another Utah voice in Congress."
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, noted Utah missed the fourth seat in 2000 by just 857 residents and called Tuesday "a terrific day for the people of our great state."
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Story compiled with contributions from Lisa Riley Roche and the DMC News Division.
