Patrick Murphy

Patrick J. Murphy, a Democrat, is a former U.S. Representative for the 8th Congressional District of Pennsylvania, having served 2007 to 2011.

Iraq War
After the first Iraq supplemental spending bill, which included a deadline for troop withdrawal from Iraq, passed the House by a vote of 218-212, Rep. Murphy, who served in the Iraq War, stated, "We answered the call that so many families here in America were asking our Congress to do...No longer is this Congress going to stand idly by and watch our brave and heroic men and women go to referee a religious civil war."

Biography
Murphy was born in 1973 in Philadelphia. After attending Bucks County Community College, he enrolled at King's College, in Wilkes-Barre, PA, where he became a cadet in the U.S. Army ROTC and a captain of the hockey team and student body president. After graduating in 1993 with a double major, he was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Army. 

Murphy attended law school at the Widener University in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. He then worked 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 and constitutional law at the U.S. Military Academy (West Point), and has also lectured at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the International Institute for Humanitarian Rights in Sanremo, Italy, and at Widener.

After teaching at West Point, Murphy deployed overseas twice, serving in Bosnia (2002) and in Baghdad during the Iraq War (2003-2004). While in Baghdad as a paratrooper 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. Murphy earned the Bronze Star Medal for his service in Iraq. 

In 2006, Murphy married Jennifer Stafford.

2006 election
Murphy defeated Republican Rep. Michael G. Fitzpatrick by 1,500 votes to take possession of the seat in the 2006 congressional elections.

2010 election
In 2010, Murphy lost to Republican Michael G. Fitzpatrick, the same person Murphy had ousted back in 2006.

Money in politics
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Committees

 * House Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Military Personnel
 * House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence

Committees in the 109th Congress

 * House Committee on Armed Services
 * Subcommittee on Military Personnel

Resources

 * Patrick Murphy for Congress, official campaign site.

Local blogs and discussion sites

 * A Smoke-Filled Room Blogspot.
 * Above Average Jane Blog.
 * Suburban Guerrilla, Susie Madrak's blog.
 * The Liberal Doomsayer Blogspot.
 * Young Philly Politics.