SALT LAKE CITY - Gov. Jon Huntsman is backing a proposal to give Utah an at-large seat in the U.S. House of Representatives as a way to provide the state with more representation in Washington, according to a senior adviser.

"The governor is very supportive of any way to get a fourth seat in Congress that the state deserves," said Michael Mower, the governor's deputy chief of staff. "It's important to increase the number (of delegates from Utah) to reflect our population and increase our influence at the Capitol."

Scott Parker, a spokesman for U.S. Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, said Huntsman's support for the at-large proposal included in a bill sponsored by Congressman Tom Davis, a Republican from Virginia, is important. "It lends credibility to the fact that this is a viable option, and may be the only option to get the extra representation we deserve," he said.

Although the main aim of Davis' bill is to establish the District of Columbia as a congressional district, the legislation also would give Utah another voice in Washington.

Co-sponsors of the bill include Bishop and U.S. Rep. Chris Cannon, R-Utah.

Davis' bill calls for two new seats, one for the District of Columbia and the other for Utah because the state just missed gaining a fourth congressional district after the 2000 census.

Utah filed a federal lawsuit that challenged the awarding of an additional congressional seat to North Carolina after the census, but lost that case.

In anticipation of obtaining the seat, the Utah Legislature adopted a redistricting plan in 2001.

In a Friday interview with Washington-D.C. radio station WTOP, Davis said he has reached an agreement with Huntsman to add one at-large congressional seat for Utah and to create a seat for the District of Columbia.

The station reported that one of the major roadblocks to Davis' bill has been the concern that redistricting jeopardizes the seat held by U.S. Rep. Jim Matheson, who is Utah's lone Democratic congressman.

However, that shouldn't be an issue if Utah's new congressional delegate serves at-large, Davis told the station. "We are going to write into legislation that (the Utah seat) be an at-large seat," he said. "We haven't had at-large seats since the '70s, but there is nothing to constitutionally bar it. The real log jam on the Democratic side has been this suspicion that this is a secret plot to pick up a seat in Utah and allow Utah to draw its congressional district boundaries in the mid-term."

The additional representative would only serve at-large until 2012, when congressional redistricting would automatically take place based on population figures from the 2010 census.

There are seven at-large seats in the U.S. House of Representatives for Alaska, Delaware, Montana, North Dakota, South Dakota, Vermont and Wyoming. However, that occurs because the population of those states is not large enough to warrant more than one district. None of those seven states has a mixed bag of at-large and district-elected representatives.

Matheson favors giving Utah a fourth seat, but hasn't decided how that should be achieved, said his spokeswoman Alyson Heyrend. He also isn't convinced Davis' bill has the support of House Republican leaders needed to win approval, she added.

State Sen. Curt Bramble, R-Provo, said he supports the notion of "one citizen, one vote" for Congress but understands why Huntsman is backing the at-large proposal to expedite Utah receiving a fourth representative. "If we get a fourth seat we should be grateful," he said. "Whether it's at-large or through redistricting, I don't think it will be a contentious issue (among state lawmakers)."