Chris Murphy (politician)

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For other persons of the same name, see Chris Murphy.

Christopher Murphy

United States Representative from Connecticut's 5th district
In office Term Starts January 2007
Preceded by	Nancy Johnson
Succeeded by	Incumbent

Born	August 3, 1973 White Plains, New York
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Engaged to Cathy Holahan
Religion	Roman Catholic

Christopher Murphy (b. August 3, 1973) is an American politician, member of the Democratic Party. He is a Connecticut State Senator, and the Congressman-elect in Connecticut’s 5th District (map).

Murphy is currently finishing his second term from the 16th State Senatorial District that includes the towns of Waterbury, Southington, Wolcott and Cheshire. His successor in the State Senate is Republican Sam Caligiuri.

1 Education
2 Political career
3 2006 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives
4 External links
5 See also

[edit] Education

Murphy is a graduate of Wethersfield High School, Williams College, and the University of Connecticut School of Law. He is employed as an attorney with the firm of Ruben, Johnson, and Morgan in Hartford. He presently resides in Cheshire.

[edit] Political career

Murphy began his political career as the campaign manager for Charlotte Koskoff’s near upset of Nancy Johnson in 1996. From 1997 to 1998 he worked for Senate Majority Leader George Jepsen.

Murphy was first elected to office in 1998, at age 25; he unseated a 14-year incumbent to take a seat in the Connecticut House of Representatives. He served two terms there, representing the 81st House District in Southington.

When he was elected to the state Senate at age 29, Murphy was appointed chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee. He now also chairs the state task force looking into the re-importation of prescription drugs from Canada. In his term in office, Murphy worked on environmental protection issues and for juvenile justice reform. In 2005, he authored and legislation establishing the new Office of Child Protection to better coordinate advocacy for abused and neglected children, legislation that passed.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] 2006 campaign for the U.S. House of Representatives

Main article: United States House elections, 2006

Murphy left the Senate (did not run for re-election) to seek the House seat held by Republican Nancy Johnson. Although she won with at least 60% of the vote in 2004 and faced a difficult challenge (running against a fellow incumbent in a redrawn district) in 2002, winning with just 54%, she was a Republican in a swing district. John Kerry won the district by about 1100 votes in 2004 and Al Gore won it when Johnson represented it as the 6th District in 2000.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] New York Times Endorsement

The New York Times endorsed Murphy saying "Mr. Murphy, a lawyer, is impressive. He has spent eight years in the Connecticut House and Senate. He pushed for the state to adopt a system of campaign finance reform when he first entered the House, long before this was considered an important issue. He helped pass legislation that made it easier for the uninsured to obtain health insurance. He wants to work in the same issue in Congress.

Mr. Murphy believes the war in Iraq has forced America into a false choice between war and civil liberties and has made us more vlunerable to terrorism. He advocates a timetable for withdrawal. Ms. Johnson has supported the war and has voted to continue the current open-ended commitment.

We've supported Ms. Johnson in the past, but are disenchanted with her support of her leadership's radical agenda. Mr. Murphy would be a strong candidate in any race, and even against a seasoned incumbent, is impressive. He would make a superb addition to Congress. We strongly endorse his candidacy."

[edit] Johnson Wages "Nastiest Campaign in State History"

Johnson, Connecticut's longest serving representative in Congress with 12 terms in Washington, was battered by national discontent with the Republican Party and hurt by many self-inflicted wounds, including her campaign's decision to unleash a tide of negative ads against Murphy that turned her race into what many called one of the nastiest in state history.

Johnson's defeat is likely to be regarded as a repudiation of the negative ad strategy she employed against Murphy, operating out of a Republican playbook devised by national Republicans. Negative ads by Johnson portrayed Murphy, 33, as tax-happy and soft on terrorism. Her early ads were deemed effective by many observers,including ABC News, but late in the campaign she ran ads claiming Murphy coddled drug dealers and sex offenders. Newspapers such as the Hartford Courant believed these ads had a reverse effect, drawing more voters to Murphy.

Murphy responded with ads thanking Mrs. Johnson for her service, but emphasising a need for change in Washington.

[edit] Controversy in the 2006 Campaign: Campaign ad against Johnson

An ad by Chris Murphy against GOP incumbent Nancy Johnson says a mother contacted Johnson for help to get corrective surgery for her son's cleft lip and palate but was ignored by Johnson ^{[citation needed]}. But according to Factcheck.org, this is misleading, saying the mother contacted Murphy first, but never made any kind of contact with Johnson until 3 years later [1]. In an article titled "Johnson Attack On Ad Misfires: Murphy Commercial Is Rooted In Fact," the Hartford Courant defended Murphy's version of events.[2] Johnson has demanded that the ad be pulled [3] while the Murphy Campaign insists the ad is true [4].

[edit] 2006 Election Results

Chris Murphy won the election, defeating Johnson by 12 percentage points, 56% to 44%; the only House incumbent to suffer a worse defeat, percentage-wise, was John Hostettler (who lost to Democrat Brad Ellsworth in IN-08). The 5th District has 41 municipalities, including blue-collar New Britain, Torrington, Danbury, and Waterbury (the largest city in the district), swing suburban towns in the Farmington Valley and well-to-do rural towns in Litchfield County. Murphy won in towns that had voted reliably for Johnson in the past. Once Republican towns such as Kent and Goshen in Litchfield County went for Murphy, and in large municipalities such as Danbury and Waterbury, Murphy swamped Johnson by large margins. As the most recent opinion poll had shown a very narrow Murphy lead the results surprised many local observers.

[edit] External links

Murphy for Congress - campaign website
State Senator Chris Murphy - official Connecticut General Assembly website

[edit] See also

United States House elections, 2006

Political offices
Preceded by Nancy Johnson	Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Connecticut's 5th congressional district 2007-Present	Succeeded by Incumbent