Frank Edward "Ted" Moss (September 23, 1911 – January 29, 2003) was an American lawyer and politician. From 1959 to 1977 he served as a United States senator from Utah, and as of 2026 was the last Democrat to do so.

Early life and education

Frank Moss was born in Holladay, a suburb of Salt Lake City, Utah, as the youngest of seven children of James Edward and Maude (née Nixon) Moss. His father, a well-known secondary school educator, was known as the "father of high school athletics" in Utah. In 1929, he graduated from Granite High School, where he had been freshman class president, editor of the school newspaper, two-time state debate champion, and center on the football team. During college, he was sophomore class president and coach of the varsity debate team. The following year, he married Phyllis Hart (the daughter of Charles H. Hart), to whom he remained married until his death in 2003; the couple had one daughter and three sons. While studying in Washington, he worked at the National Recovery Administration, the Resettlement Administration, and the Farm Credit Administration.

Moss was elected to a second term in 1964, defeating Brigham Young University President Ernest L. Wilkinson. He was elected to a third term in 1970 defeating four-term Congressman Laurence J. Burton. He gained national prominence with regard to environmental, consumer, and health care issues. Moss became an expert on water issues and wrote The Water Crisis in 1967. He worked to secure additional national parks for Utah and started important investigations into the care of the elderly in nursing and retirement homes, and into physicians' abuses of the federal Medicaid program. In 1976, his capacity as chairman of the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Long-Term Care, Senator Moss made a first-hand investigation of waste, fraud and mismanagement in the Medicaid program by posing as a patient and visiting the East Harlem Medical Center in New York City. Despite having no complaints of symptoms and having had his health checked by his own physician a month before, Senator Moss "was given a costly series of tests" and then told to come back the next day for more unnecessary tests that were billed to the federal government.

In 1974, Moss joined Senator Frank Church (D-Idaho) to sponsor the first legislation to provide federal funding for hospice care programs. The bill did not have widespread support and was not brought to a vote. Congress finally included a Hospice benefit in Medicare in 1982. In 1976 Moss backed a constitutional amendment overturning Roe v. Wade and outlawing abortion.

Moss chaired the Consumer Subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee where he sponsored a measure, the Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act of 1966, requiring detailed labeling on cigarette packages noting the health hazards of smoking and banning tobacco advertising on radio and television. He also sponsored the Consumer Product Warranty and Guarantee Act (known as the Magnuson-Moss Act), the Toy Safety Act, the Product Safety Act, and the Poison Prevention Packaging Act. He was also Chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Aeronautical and Space Sciences from 1973 to 1977.

Moss ran for a fourth term in 1976 against Republican Orrin Hatch. Among other issues, Hatch criticized Moss's 18-year tenure in the Senate, saying "What do you call a Senator who’s served in office for 18 years? You call him home." Hatch argued that many senators, including Moss, had lost touch with their constituents. Hatch won the election by an unexpectedly wide nine-point margin and proceeded to hold that seat for the next 42 years.

Afterwards, Moss returned to the practice of law in Washington, D.C. and Salt Lake City. To date, he is the last Democrat to represent Utah in the U.S. Senate.

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