There will still be public hearings and "tweaking" of the boundaries to get each of the four new districts' populations below 0.5 percent deviation, Curtis said.

The four-district plan GOP leaders put together Wednesday may actually put more Democrats into Matheson's new 2nd District than he has in his current 2nd District, which takes in the eastern part of Salt Lake County and counties to the east, south and southwest. His is one of the largest geographic districts in the nation.

Under the new four-district plan, Matheson would pick up more of the west side of the county, all of Summit County (which he has now) and then north into Morgan County. The county's west side and the 7,100 residents in Morgan County would be new for him. While Matheson would pick up new constituents in Morgan County and the west side of Salt Lake County, he probably would be better off in his Democrat/Republican ratio.

But, by making a safe Democratic seat, Republicans could also be making the other three seats even more secure for Republicans — and thus for a decade or more making it nearly impossible for Democrats to capture a second Utah congressional seat.

"I don't know how to answer that complaint," Curtis said. "I guess Todd Taylor just is having a bad day and won't be happy with anything we do."

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