son of a Philadelphia police
officer and a legal secretary,
Democratic u.s. rep. Patrick
J. Murphy was born on oct.
19, 1979, and was raised in
northeast Philadelphia.
Murphy is an iraq war veteran,
former West Point professor
and a criminal prosecutor. he
is running for re-election in the
8th congressional District.
he graduated from
archbishop ryan high school
in northeast Philadelphia and
went on to attend Bucks. Later
he attended King’s college in
Wilkes-Barre, where he was a
cadet in the u.s. army rotc
(reserve officers’ training
corps) as well as captain of the
hockey team and student body
president.
after graduating, he was
commissioned as a second
lieutenant in the army and was
later assigned to West Point as
a lecturer.
in the military, Murphy
trained as an airborne and air
assault paratrooper. Later, he
served as a special assistant
u.s. attorney in new york, a
prosecutor in north carolina
and an assistant professor of
constitutional Law at West
Point. his first deployment
was to Bosnia in 2002 and the
second was to Baghdad, iraq
from 2003-2004.
upon returning home,
Murphy practiced law at the
cozen o’conner law firm
before running for congress.
in november 2006, he won his
first election to the u.s. house
of representatives.
Murphy serves on the
house’s appropriations
committee and Permanent
select committee for
intelligence.
he took on a leadership role
in the debate on iraq and
afghanistan as the first iraq
war veteran elected to
congress. he introduced the
iraq War De-escalation act of
2007.
this bill called for the
responsible withdrawal of
troops with a timeline so that
they could refocus the fight in
afghanistan. as this is something
that Murphy is very passionate
about, he has also written
and sponsored several bills
relating to the oversight and
conduct of the war. he has
voted for increasing funding
for veterans and troops.
Murphy worked with other
members of the house and the
senate to pass the 21st gi Bill
which would give veterans
resources to get the opportunities
they deserve after their
service is complete. in
november 2008 he was reelected
to a second term.
Murphy is member of the
Blue Dog coalition. the Blue
Dog coalition describes itself
as a group of moderate-to-conservative
Democrats committed
to financial and national
security, favoring compromise
and bipartisanship over ideology
and party discipline.
Murphy has increased funding
for flood relief and prevention
along the Delaware river
and is focusing on the economic
revitalization of Bucks
county, including efforts to
attract “green energy” companies
to the area.

His stance on key issues
Jobs and the economy
Murphy plans to stand up to
excessive government spending,
record accountability and
reform the federal budget to
stop deficit spending and
reduce debt.
Education
his stand involves decreasing
the burden of debt after
college, ensuring continued
access to student loans and
rewarding students who
choose public service as a few
examples.
The Environment
he wants to ceate clean
energy jobs, sponsors conservation
efforts for Bucks
county and a small portion of
Montgomery county and
Philadelphia and suppoorts
renewable energy.
Murphy supports the
american clean energy and
security act. according to his
website:
“this bill will create millions
of new american jobs, limit
the pollution that causes climate
change, and reduce our
dangerous dependence on foreign
oil by investing in
american-made clean energy.