Roughly 80 percent of Americans consider themselves Christians, with Protestants making up about half of that group. About a quarter are Catholic.

Like Mormons, Jews and Episcopalians are also overrepresented in Congress. For example, Episcopalians make up less than 1 percent of the American population but 8 percent of Congress.

John M. Haddow, a former legislative director for Sen. Orrin Hatch, said the senator from Utah was always open about his LDS faith. Hatch briefly ran for the GOP presidential nomination six years ago.

Mormons have come a long way since Joseph Smith founded the church in upstate New York in the early 1800s. An angry mob killed Smith shortly after he announced his candidacy for president in 1844.

Sixty years later, Utah Republican Reed Smoot became the first Mormon elected to the Senate. His arrival sparked congressional hearings on polygamy, a practice officially banned by LDS leaders in 1890. Smoot, who was not a polygamist, served five terms.

Mormons still face questions about polygamy — fueled in part by the HBO show "Big Love," about a Utah man and his multiple wives. Recent news coverage of a rape trial against the leader of the Fundamentalist LDS Church, has also kept the issue in the public arena.

But church members and others say these associations are unfair.

They point to John F. Kennedy, who overcame questions about his religion to become the first Catholic elected president in 1960.

"He broke the ground for people like Romney to run without regard to their specific faith tradition," said the Rev. Bob Edgar, of the National Council of Churches and a former Pennsylvania congressman.

Reid, who attends an LDS church just outside Washington and keeps the Book of Mormon in his office, was not born into the faith. He joined the church in college and raised his five children in the church.

"The church has been a wonderful thing in my life," he said. "It helps me try to always do the right thing, understand that what you do has consequences."

Still, he recently drew sharp criticism from church leaders by voting against a constitutional amendment against gay marriage. He thinks gay marriage is a states' rights issue.

Although LDS religious leaders do not endorse specific candidates, the church has at times expressed its opinion on issues such as gambling and same-sex marriage, said church spokeswoman Kim Farah.

"We believe we have an obligation as members of the communities in which we live and as citizens of the nation to engage in the political process in an informed way," she said in an e-mail. "However, church members are to make their own choices and affiliations in partisan politics."

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E-mail: dmarrero@gns.gannett.com