 Moffett's final comeback effort was in 1990 when he moved to the town of Newtown to seek election to the open congressional seat in Connecticut's 5th congressional district, which was being vacated by John G. Rowland, who was running for governor.Moffett's opponent, Waterbury alderman Gary Franks claimed that Moffett was far too liberal to represent conservative 5th district voters, and Franks won the election.In 2004 he broke with Ralph Nader regarding his independent candidacy for president.