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Murphy Not Running for Gov

Patrick Murphy portrait loresPatrick Murphy is a veteran and former Congressman, but he won’t be a candidate for Governor in 2014.

The Bucks County Democrat dismissed rumors that have circulated recently in some Pa. Democratic circles.

It’s “absolutely not happening,” he said.

Murphy represented the 8th district in Congress from 2007 to 2011 and ran for Pa. Attorney General last year. He served in Iraq from 2003-2004 as a JAG Corps attorney with the U.S. 82nd Airborne Division.

He’s presently a partner at the firm Fox Rothschild.

Only two Democrats – former Dep’t. Of Environmental Protection Scretary John Hanger and Cumberland County pastor Max Meyers – have officially announced a bid against Gov. Tom Corbett.

Several others are officially or at least rumored to be considering a run, including Pa. Treasurer Rob McCord, former Congressman Joe Sestak, Former Congresswoman Kathy Dahlkemper, State Sens. Tim Solobay and Mike Stack, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawolski, businessmen Tom Knox and Tom Wolf and Congresswoman Allyson Schwartz.

Republican Montgomery County Commissioner Bruce Castor has also been floating his name.

23 Responses

  1. I Think that Patrick Murphy would of made a good Governor for Pa he would of done a lot of good things for the state of pa i know that he would of worked hard for the people.

  2. I would say LT. Gov. But, all the Gov. candidates seem to come from SEPA. The LT Gov will need to come out of WB/Scranton or Pitt or even Erie. We will see what the future holds.

    The field for Gov looks like it will be Sestak, Schwartz and McCord. Who ever does not get the Gov seat will run for the Senate seat in 2016!

  3. Doylestown Dave-
    I watched the first debate between Murphy and Kane at PA Progressive Summit. I can’t recall seeing a smarmier candidate who acted like he was “too cool for school”. He barely answered a single question, and just kept bringing up that he had been in Iraq.

    I think his early front-runner status was based solely on his name recognition. But, it was also clear that he was interested in running for governor and using AG as a stepping stone. I’ve talked to people who supported him and attended his fundraiser who couldn’t get a decent answer about why he wanted to be AG (… because he really wanted to run for Gov).

    When you look at the campaign ads, his were all rubber stamp endorsements by top politicos. Kane’s ads were her talking into the camera about why she wanted to be AG.

    The voters can sometimes spot a phony who isn’t really interested in the job they are running for. We needed an AG who actually wanted to be AG.

  4. I am surprised that Katie McGinty’s name has not appeared on this site as a gubernatorial potential. She is from the Rendell and Clinton camps (and now Obama) and could likely garner significant funds with her connections. Robin Wiessmann would be another potential from that “camp.” The race needs a progressive yet serious Democratic woman. Kathleen Kane may be just the start… some people may take issue, but I’ve found that competent women perform well with a no BS approach against someone as incompetent and “dirty” as Corbett.

  5. I agree with Colonial Cadet.

    Murphy is a workhorse… any study of his time in Congress would reveal that. To say he relies on his face/name doesn’t take into consideration any of the facts of his record or his campaigning style.

  6. Colonial Cadet-
    Murphy’s got the three traits a candidate needs to lose: smugness, over reliance on looks/name recognition, and a failure to develop a compelling reason to elect him. (his service in Iraq is not a compelling reason to elect him)

    Doylestown Dave:
    In 2010, Murphy was an incumbent and had money.

    For Sestak’s seat, Lentz was not only facing a darling puppet of the Delco GOP machine, but the Sestak senate campaign has sucked up all the volunteers (not to mention GOTV on Republicans that would vote for Sestak, but not Lentz).

    Also, the Dem party abandoned Brookvar and a lot of PA congressional candidates in 2012, and the redistricting made it worse..

  7. In 2010, Murphy only lost by 7 points in a GOP leaning district in a GOP wave.

    Same year, Sestak’s seat lost by 11, Trivedi lost by 14, Carney lost by 11, Dahlkemper by 11.

    And in 2012, a Dem year, Fitzpatrick won by 14… so to say Murphy is done is just wrong. He’s got another run left in him.

  8. Haters are going to hate. People who have barely a clue about the political reality in Pennsylvania will hit the message boards hard… but that doesn’t make them right.

    Patrick Murphy has the only three traits that an elected official needs – he is a good man, a hard worker, and has smarts in spades. Whenever he decides to get back in the game, I will have his back.

  9. The problem with Murphy was he lied to the district. He sold us on him being a “blue dog” but as soon as Obama won, he morphed into a Daily Kos/huffington posting progressive! He voted 98% with Nancy Pelosi (except for the gimme votes he made to look independent, as if people in the 8th were so stupid we didn’t know what they were doing)! If he didn’t vote for cap&trade, and not EVERY piece of spending pushed in 09, he may still be our congressman, even WITH his obamacare vote… He gave himself no cover for being a Pelosi lapdog. This hurt him for AG, and in an off year GOV election without a democrat presidential candidate giving him coattails, would spell strike three for him!

  10. Murphy’s just not a very good politician. He got spanked in 2010. Yes it was a GOP wave year. But still, Democratic congressmen like Holden, Altmire, and Critz were all able to hold on and win in 2010 – and they each ha much tougher districts than Murphy.
    Then in 2012 he was exposed further. Kane beat him decisively.
    It’s over for him.

  11. I would hope Murphy has the sense to understand he was twice rejected by Pennsylvanians which would indicate he is not a viable candidate – for any office.
    States that are headed by governors who are Democrats are in free-fall. Pennsylvanians, regardless of Party affiliation, are not so naive as to vote one in as governor.

  12. Murphy not running for Gov?

    In other equally shocking news: water is wet.

    Murphy got elected to Congress as an Iraq vet during the 2006 Anti-Iraq War/Anti-Bush Dem wave. He was a poster boy the Dems would trot out to put a young/pretty face on military matters (while the real work was done by pros behind the scenes).

    Murphy’s a nice guy, but a one-note wonder lacking broad appeal. He was cocky (like the hare racing the turtle) when he ran against Kane.

    He couldn’t hold his district seat and he couldn’t win a statewide primary against an unknown, despite being endorsed by the big name politicos.

    Does Murphy really need to run again for the third strike?

    As for Sestak, I doubt he is running for Gov. He’s got less than $20,000 in campaign account, and didn’t bother showing up a PA Society event in NYC. McCord is popular and has over $1 million on hand.

    Even if Sestak were to run, would pull his last-minute-decision BS while he checks which was the wind is blowing (giving McCord and other candidates time to raise even more money).

    More likely, he’d go for a 2016 rematch with Toomey, in a presidential year with Philly turnout high. This would be especially true if Hillary is running. In 2007 he blew off helping all the local Delco candidates to work for Hillary and hitched his wagon to the Clintons. After job-gate, he won’t get the salt off a pretzel worth of help from Obama.

  13. Scott,

    Regardless of anything else, your accusation of Murphy being a career politician is just simply false – he was a legislative aide and a law student and then served our country in the Middle East before running for Congress, and did not hold office before then. Also there are plenty of GOP career politicians, and you know it.

    Let’s at least have a well-informed conversation and not factually incorrect slander worthy only of the very lowest of political discourse. I’ll give you a hint, that discourse unfortunately exists and it rhymes with Box and ends in News.

  14. @Jake Sternberger

    He was an attorney in Baghdad. Don’t get me wrong, the service is commendable but don’t make him out to be an infantryman when he sat in an office processing paperwork.

    @Montco Mom

    And he got outspent 3 to 1 in 2010 and lost by 8%.

    Put a fork in him, he’s done.

  15. Scott, how can you say “[g]o get a real job” about Patrick Murphy? Explain, please, how patrolling Ambush Alley in Baghdad is not a “real job?”

  16. GOOD! One less big government, tax and spend liberal to deal with. One more career politician we don’t need. Go get a real job.

  17. Is this a joke?? Murphy just had a bad loss against Fitzpatrick. He lost by 8 points. Then he followed that up with another loss to Kathleen Kane, after he started out as the frontrunner. Of course he’s not running for governor!! He should realize that after two bad losses it’s time to rebuild his career. Maybe county commissioner. Something more realistic.

  18. He was a prolific fundraiser.. I think it was something along the lines $15 mil over the past three races. I know that I gave to him… $20… but I was glad to be able to help such an outstanding young veteran.

  19. He was a very good candidate for AG, and put up a hell of a fight against Fitzpatrick in a GOP wave.

    Should he decide to run again in the future, I’ll have his back.

  20. Admittedly, I’m a bit biased, but I think he would have been a strong candidate. He accomplished a lot in a (relatively) short amount of time in Congress: DADT repeal, vets services improvements, Improper Payments Act. He was strong with labor, sensible on gun rights, and would have raised a lot of money.

    I’m sure we’ll see him on a ballot again soon though.

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