Former English teacher Carol Spackman Moss is the longest-serving woman in the history of the Utah legislature. And, as a Democrat in a deeply blue state, she has learned to work across the aisle to get things done.
How does she navigate today’s deep divisions between red and blue? “Well, I have many, many Republicans that vote for me, or I wouldn’t win,” she says. “They’ll say to me, ‘Oh, Carol, we voted for you. You’re the only Democrat we vote for.’”
Spackman Moss’ teaching career allowed her to plant deep roots in her community, having taught two generations of families.
“My district isn’t just one little town, it’s three towns in Salt Lake County with 43,000 people,” she says. “I can knock on a door miles from [my home] and somebody will come to the door and say ‘Mrs. Spackman, I was in your English class.’”
When asked what prepared her for a career in politics, she says: “I spent 33 years in a classroom with teenagers.” She notes that she learned how to communicate well and relate to her students, and the key to success in politics is also relationships. “I’m very good at that,” she remarks.
The fight against the opioid epidemic
Spackman Moss’ close connection with her constituents means that she does everything in her power to remedy problems they bring to her attention.
In 2014, at the height of the opioid epidemic, a college student told her that too many of his friends were dying of overdoses. He had modeled legislation for the overdose recovery drug naloxone to be distributed to Utah citizens. In the summer session, Spackman Moss sponsored a bill that allowed doctors to prescribe naloxone to someone other than patients, which gave family members the tools to help loved ones who overdose. Her bill became law. Since then, she has passed four more bills to address her state’s opioid epidemic.
Unfortunately, not every fight ends in victory. Spackman Moss has had the most trouble passing bills on health education in schools, a topic she is passionate about.
“I’ve tried in vain to [pass] this health education amendment, which teaches kids how to prevent sexual violence,” Spackman Moss explains. “Utah has a really high number of girls between the ages of 6 and 18 who are victims of sexual abuse or sexual violence, and it’s really from kids not knowing and not getting information because their parents don’t tell them.”
Spackman Moss hopes to succeed in passing a health education bill in her remaining term, especially with the increase in AI-generated, sexually explicit images.
The journey from teacher to lawmaker
So how did Spackman Moss transform from an educator into legislator? The year was 2000, and Spackman Moss was teaching at Olympus High School, in Holladay, Utah. One day, she received a call from her cousin, state Rep. Trisha Beck, a Democrat in another district.
“She thought I should run for the Utah House of Representatives because the representative for my district was not a good supporter of public education,” Spackman Moss shares. “I had read negative press statements of his like ‘teachers are a bunch of whiners,’ after we had gone on strike.”
Spackman Moss explained that she had taught four out of eight of her predecessor’s children. Despite him and his family reaping the benefits of the public school system, the representative slandered the teachers that made it possible.
“Because of that call, I decided to run,” she says.
A voice for unions
Spackman Moss became a member of NEA when she started teaching at the age of 23, and is an NEA-Retired lifetime member today. Throughout her career, she saw firsthand what unions can accomplish through collective bargaining.
“We got higher salaries. We got better sick leave. We got improved health insurance. I remember when we got dental insurance. That was terrific!” she said. Of the 30,000 teachers in Utah, 18,000 belong to a union. But member or not, all Utah teachers benefit from collective bargaining, Spackman Moss explains. Today, she still uses her leadership role to advocate for unions.
In February, when Utah Gov. Spencer Cox signed a bill banning public employers from acknowledging labor unions as bargaining agents, public unions came together, forming the Protect Utah Workers coalition. They filed an application for a ballot referendum to overturn the law. Some 251,590 concerned Utah citizens, including Spackman Moss, signed their names, far exceeding the 140,748 signatures needed to put a referendum on the Utah ballot.
As a result, Lt. Gov. Deidre Henderson issued a temporary stay, stopping the law from going into effect on July 1. The bill could go on the ballot in November or in an earlier special election.
“Do you know how long we’ve had collective bargaining in Utah?” Spackman Moss asked. “Fifty years. So, I'm just so proud of all the teachers and all the education advocates, including all my Democratic colleagues.”
While she has decided that after finishing out her term in November 2026, she will not run again, Spackman Moss is hopeful that another dedicated Democrat, maybe even a teacher, will take over her position.
