Patrick Murphy (Pennsylvania politician)

CPT Patrick Murphy in 2003.

Murphy attended The JAG School and entered U.S. Army JAG Corps. In 2000, Murphy went on active duty in the Army, serving as a judge advocate and then joining the military faculty at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, where he taught constitutional law.[14] He has also lectured at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the International Institute for Humanitarian Rights in Sanremo, Italy, and at Widener University.[14] After the attacks of September 11, 2001, Murphy volunteered for overseas deployment, serving in Bosnia (2002) and in Baghdad during the Iraq War (2003–04).[14]

While in Baghdad as a JAG Corps attorney with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division, Murphy worked to reconstruct the justice system and helped prosecute Sheik Mohammed Ali Hassan al-Moayad, a lieutenant of Muqtada al-Sadr.[15] Prior to being assigned to the 82nd, Murphy qualified as a Basic Parachutist and graduated the Air Assault course. He was awarded the Bronze Star Medal for meritorious service in Iraq.[16] Following his service in Iraq, he returned to Fort Bragg and continued his service as a JAG officer before being released from active duty in 2004.[14]

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.[17]

On May 16, 2006, he won the Democratic primary with about 65% of the vote,[18] against Andrew Warren, a former county commissioner and ex-Republican who badly trailed Murphy in campaign funds.[19]

Polls taken in October 2006 generally showed a tight race between Murphy and Fitzpatrick. On election day, Murphy's campaign, led by campaign manager Scott Fairchild and GOTV Director Brent Welder, engaged in a massive get-out-the-vote effort with over 2000 volunteers knocking on 160,000 doors.[20]

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).[21][22] Overall, he received 50.3% of the vote. Murphy was helped by a large national Democratic "wave" that swept 31 new Democrats into Congress, enabling the Democrats to win control of the U.S. House for the first time since 1994.[23]

Murphy was only the third Democrat elected to represent Bucks County in American history. He was the first since Peter Kostmayer lost re-election in 1992.[24]

Murphy faced Republican Tom Manion, a retired Marine Corps Reserve Colonel and executive at Johnson & Johnson, as well as independent Tom Lingenfelter. Significant national attention was drawn to the race because of both candidates' connections to the Iraq War.[25] Murphy was a strong critic of Bush's war strategy, while Manion, whose son (1st Lt Travis Manion, USMC) was killed in Iraq in April 2007, supported the Iraq War Surge.[25]

Congressman Murphy won election to a second term with 57 percent of the vote. He won re-election to a second term by increasing his margin in Democratic Lower Bucks County while at the same time winning many rural townships in Upper Bucks and keeping his margin down in Central Bucks. During the campaign, Murphy received support from many nationally known figures including George Clooney, Scarlett Johansson, and Ben Affleck.[26]

Murphy was defeated by Republican nominee and former U.S. Congressman Mike Fitzpatrick, whom Murphy had defeated in 2006. Murphy lost to Fitzpatrick by 7 points.

On April 20, 2011, Murphy announced his candidacy for Attorney General of Pennsylvania. His announcement was accompanied by over thirty endorsements from prominent elected officials and organizations across the state.[27]

On January 14, 2012 the Pennsylvania Democratic State Committee met in State College to determine its statewide endorsements for the 2012 primary season. No candidate got the two-thirds majority necessary to be endorsed by the state party, but Murphy led on both ballots, winning 161 votes (50.6 percent) on the first ballot and 191 votes (60.4 percent) on the second ballot.[28] The political website PoliticsPA reported that "Murphy's strong performance can be credited to years of ground work and party building; many members spoke of times that he had visited their counties and supported their local party." Murphy was nominated by Montgomery County chairman Marcel Groen.[29]

On April 24, 2012, Murphy was defeated 53-47 by Kathleen Kane in the primary election for Pennsylvania Attorney General. He did well in the Philadelphia area and the City of Pittsburgh but lost much of the rest of the Central and Southwestern parts of the state.[30]

Murphy supports abortion rights. He garnered a 100% rating from NARAL and "supported the interests of Planned Parenthood 100 percent in 2008."[39]

Murphy authored the Student Credit Card Transparency Act of 2009 which said students can be taken advantage of by credit card companies. The bill accomplished this goal by requiring universities and credit card companies to disclose contracts for student credit cards.[40] Murphy garnered significant praise for his support of the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Bureau in the face of significant special interest opposition.[41]

Murphy's office worked with the Secret Service to secure hundreds of thousands of dollars for victims of the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. Murphy received national praise for his efforts on behalf of Madoff's victims.[42]

Patrick Murphy was a leader in the effort to repeal the military's "Don't ask, don't tell" policy that removed 13,000 service members from the American military for their sexual orientation.[43] Murphy worked tirelessly to convince fellow moderate Democrats to support the issue despite the political risk involved.[44] Murphy was quoted in The Advocate as saying: “I’m a nice guy, but I’m not in this to make friends. I’m in this to make public policy to make our military stronger and keep our families safe at home. We have paratroopers going down in Baghdad who do not have Arabic translators to back them up because Congress 16 years ago didn’t have the guts to do what’s right.[45] He introduced a bill in the House to repeal Don't Ask, Don't Tell on December 14, 2010.[46]

Murphy stands behind President Barack Obama as his signs the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell

The bill was approved in a strong bipartisan vote of 250-175 in the House, with the support of 15 House Republicans, including Murphy's home-state colleagues Todd Platts and Charlie Dent.[47]

Murphy voted for American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.[48]

In July 2010, the Improper Payments Elimination and Recovery Act was signed into law by President Obama. Congressman Murphy introduced the original bill in 2007, and partnered with Democrats and Republicans alike to get the bill passed. The bill enacted stricter standards among federal agencies to identify improper payments and recover taxpayer dollars that were misspent. By holding government agencies accountable, the law helped eliminate a significant portion of the $98 billion in wasteful government spending each year. The IPERA has cut Medicare errors in half, and has led to the recovery of over $2 billion in overpayments to contractors per year. In total, Murphy's bill has saved taxpayers over $17 billion so far. The OMB projects that the IPERA will save $50 billion over five years.[49]

Murphy has a permit to carry concealed firearms[50] and considers the right to bear arms is guaranteed by the Second Amendment to the United States Constitution, but with regulation. In 2007, he co-sponsored legislation that would re-authorize a Federal ban on assault weapons.[51]

The following year he signed onto H.R. 861, a bill to establish national concealed-carry reciprocity.[52] Also in 2008, Murphy was an original co-sponsor of legislation that would repeal the District of Columbia's ban on semi-automatic weapons and mandatory handgun registration.[53]

Murphy voted for the Affordable Health Care for America Act on November 7, 2009.[54]

Murphy authored the IMPROVE act (Improving Medicare Policy for Reimbursements through Oversight and Efficiency) to help eliminate fraud in the health care system and protect taxpayer dollars. The bill was signed into law in 2010.[37] He co-authored the bill with a fellow Army JAG and congressman, Tom Rooney.[55]

Murphy sponsored the Officer Daniel Faulkner Children of Fallen Heroes Scholarship Act of 2010 passed the House. Congressman Patrick Murphy sponsored the bill which would assist children whose parent or guardian died as a result of performing service as a law enforcement officer, firefighter, or member of a rescue squad or ambulance crew.

Murphy voted to keep 150,000 police officers and firefighters on the job after their funding was threatened in 2010. In response to this vote, the President of the Philadelphia-area Fraternal Order of Police said: "It's thanks to Patrick Murphy and this measure that Pennsylvania cops can stay on the job, working to keep families safe"[56]

Murphy adamantly campaigned to fight the stigma within the military associated with seeking mental health treatment.[75] Murphy's key mental health initiative was the development of multidisciplinary behavioral health teams to be embedded into Soldier work areas.[76] The behavioral health teams streamlined mental health services for Soldiers and allowed mental health care providers to form close relationships with deployable unit leaders.[76]

As Secretary, Murphy oversaw the implementation of the world's largest intranet platform - Army Knowledge Online 2.0 - which allowed Soldiers to seamlessly access their medical records online.[77]

After leaving the Department of the Army, Murphy continued to advise corporations on ways to more efficiently and effectively deliver healthcare services to Veterans.[78] In 2020, Murphy was named Chair of the Government Advisory Board for the Cerner Corporation, facilitating a partnership with the Departments of Defense and Veterans Affairs to modernize their electronic healthcare records.[78] Murphy also serves as a strategic advisor to Northwell Health, the largest health provider for Veterans in New York State aside from the VA.[79]

Murphy joined his former colleague, Patrick Kennedy, as an original board member of Psych Hub, a mental health care company focusing on connecting people with mental healthcare practitioners.[80]