Patrick Murphy (politician)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Also see Patrick Murphy (disambiguation)

Patrick Murphy
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Pennsylvania's 8th district
Incumbent
Assumed office  January 4, 2007
Preceded by	Mike Fitzpatrick
Born	October 19, 1973 (1973-10-19) (age 34) Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Jennifer Safford Murphy
Alma mater	Kings College Widener University
Religion	Roman Catholic

Patrick Joseph Murphy (born October 19, 1973) is the Congressman from Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district, an American lawyer, and a U.S. Army soldier. Murphy is the first, and to date, only veteran of the Iraq War to serve in Congress. Several other Iraq War veterans ran for Congressional seats in 2006 (e.g. Tammy Duckworth), but lost their respective races. ^[1] Murphy was awarded the Bronze Star for his service. At 34 years old, he is also one of the youngest members of Congress.

Murphy, a Democrat, narrowly defeated Republican incumbent Mike Fitzpatrick, a freshman Republican, in the 2006 election for Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district.

[edit] Early life and education

Murphy was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the Northeast Philadelphia area, the son of a Philadelphia police officer and a legal secretary.^[2]As a high school student, Murphy worked weekends as a security guard in the infamous "700 Level" of Veterans Stadium during Philadelphia Eagles and Temple University football games.

Patrick Murphy graduated from Archbishop Ryan High School in Northeast Philadelphia. After attending Bucks County Community College, he went to King's College, Pennsylvania in Wilkes-Barre, where he was a cadet in the U.S. Army ROTC and was captain of the hockey team and student body president. After graduating in 1996 with a double major, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army.^[3]

[edit] Military and legal career

Murphy attended law school at the Widener University in Harrisburg, where he became a member of the Trial Advocacy Honor Society and president of the St. Thomas More Society. He then began working in the office of the district attorney of Philadelphia, and later as a leader in the Harrisburg Civil Law Clinic, a legal aid society serving the poor. He also served as the legislative aide to Thomas Tangretti, a Democratic member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives from Westmoreland County. Murphy has taught American politics and government at Mount Saint Mary's University. In 2000, he went on active duty in the Army, joining the military faculty at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he taught constitutional law. He has also lectured at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the International Institute for Humanitarian Rights in Sanremo, Italy, and at Widener.

After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Murphy volunteered for overseas deployment, serving in Bosnia (2002) and in Baghdad during the Iraq War (2003–2004). While in Baghdad as a paratrooper and JAG Corps attorney with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, Murphy worked to reconstruct the justice system and helped prosecute Sheik Moyad, a lieutenant of Muqtada al-Sadr.^[4] Murphy was awarded the Bronze Star for his seven months of service in Iraq.^[5]

[edit] Family

Murphy returned to Pennsylvania after his tour in Iraq, and married Jennifer Safford, a Republican ^[6], on June 17, 2006. Their first child, a daughter, was born shortly after his Congressional victory. The family now lives in the Edgely section of Bristol Township, Pennsylvania.

[edit] 2006 Congressional election

In 2005, Murphy decided to challenge Republican incumbent Representative Mike Fitzpatrick in Pennsylvania's 8th congressional district as a Fighting Dem, building his campaign around "Murphy Plans" for Iraq, ethics reform, online protection, and a GI Bill of Rights. ^[7]

On May 16, 2006, he won the Democratic primary with about 65% of the vote [1], against Andrew Warren, a former county commissioner and ex-Republican who badly trailed Murphy in campaign funds.^[8]

Polls taken in October, 2006, generally showed a tight race between Murphy and Fitzpatrick: A poll by Grove Insight (a Democratic polling firm) showed Murphy leading 44% to 40%, a mid-October poll by Global Strategies Group (another Democratic polling firm) showed Murphy leading 45% to 43%, a late October poll by Global Strategies Group showed Murphy leading 46% to 41%, a poll by Constituent Dynamics showed Murphy leading 50% to 47%, and a poll by Muhlenberg College showed Murphy trailing 47% to 42%. [2] A sixth poll, by Franklin and Marshall, showed Murphy trailing 48% to 39%, but was flawed by the inadvertent inclusion of a third candidate who was not on the ballot.^[9]

On election day, Murphy's campaign, led by campaign manager Scott Fairchild, engaged in a massive get-out-the-vote effort, with over 1000 volunteers knocking on 160,000 doors. [3] The resulting high turnout in Democratic lower Bucks County and Philadelphia, combined with surprisingly strong returns for Murphy in Republican upper Bucks County, was enough to push Murphy over Fitzpatrick 125,656 to 124,138. Murphy narrowly lost the Bucks County portion of the district (116,669 to 115,645), but decisively won the Philadelphia County portion (6,024 to 5,048) and the Montgomery County portion (3,987 to 2,421). ^[10][11]

[edit] Congressional career

Murphy serves on the House Armed Services Committee and is the only freshman on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. [4] Murphy is a member of the Blue Dog Coalition, a group of moderate to conservative Democratic representatives.

Congressman Murphy opposed President Bush's plan to add more troops to the Iraq War in 2007. He was a cosponsor, with Senator Barack Obama and Congressman Mike Thompson (D-CA) of the Iraq War De-Escalation Act of 2007, which unsuccessfully aimed to develop a plan to redeploy American troops out of Iraq starting May 1, 2007, however a majority of Republicans as well as the President opposed the measure and it died in Congress.

On February 13, 2008 he was the only member of the House to vote against a resolution congratulating the New York Giants for the Super Bowl victory. “As a former 700-level security guard and lifelong Eagles fan, I couldn’t, in good conscience, vote for the New York Giants”, Murphy later stated. “The only thing worse would have been a resolution honoring the Dallas Cowboys." ^[12]

In the 2007 congressional vote rankings by the non-partisan National Journal, Congressman Murphy scored a 56.5 liberal rating and a 43.5 conservative rating, which is considered "centrist" in the Journal's rankings. ^[13]

[edit] Autobiography

In 2008, Congressman Murphy published an autobiography with Adam Frankel, Taking the Hill: From Philly to Baghdad to the United States Congress.

[edit] Electoral history

[edit] References

1. ^ NY Times coverage
2. ^ Murphy's background and upbringing
3. ^ Murphy06.com site
4. ^ 2Dems site (political consultants)
5. ^ m06_bronze-star-info Bronze Star awardee
6. ^ Interview on "Political Capital", Bloomberg TV, March 8, 2008
7. ^ Murphy06 site
8. ^ Dem. Primary win
9. ^ 2006 polls Murphy vs. Fitzpatrick
10. ^ 2006 election returns
11. ^ 2006 election returns
12. ^ Vote against congratulating the NY Giants
13. ^ List of House and Senate Centrists, 2007
14. ^ Election Statistics. Office of the Clerk of the House of Representatives. Retrieved on 2008-04-07.

[edit] See also

• Notable U.S. House elections, 2006 — Pennsylvania

[edit] External links

• Congressman Patrick Murphy official U.S. House website
• Patrick Murphy For Congress official campaign website

• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Voting record maintained by The Washington Post
• Campaign finance reports and data at the Federal Election Commission
• Campaign contributions at OpenSecrets.org
• Biography, voting record, and interest group ratings at Project Vote Smart
• Issue positions and quotes at On The Issues
• Congressional profile at GovTrack.us
• Profile at SourceWatch Congresspedia
• Fighting Dems for Congress
• GOP restructuring of PA's 8th District