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Politico Names Murphy One of Top 5 Incumbents Vulnerable to Primary

Conservative primary challenger Evan Feinberg is getting noticed. Politico did a feature this week listing the top five U.S. House incumbents most vulnerable to a primary challenge, and Rep. Tim Murphy (R-Allegheny) made the list.

(In case we had missed it, our helpful friends on both the Feinberg campaign and a few Democratic operatives passed it along).

To summarize Politico’s rationale, Feinberg has lots of support from DC-based conservative groups. All he needs is $$ to compete with Murphy’s nearly $1 mil on hand (Feinberg has $40,000).

In other Pa-18 news, Feinberg’s campaign announced today that he had filed to get on the ballot with 2,600+ signatures.

Washington County Commissioner Larry Maggi is the Democratic candidate.

Here is the section on Murphy:

Conservative groups are rallying around Evan Feinberg, a former congressional aide who’s looking to unseat Murphy, a Pittsburgh-area congressman who has displayed a penchant for working with Democrats.

The anti-tax Club for Growth has dropped into the district, slamming Murphy in TV ads as a labor-aligned liberal who supports earmarks, and the tea party-aligned FreedomWorks has endorsed Feinberg. GOP Sens. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Tom Coburn of Oklahoma have suggested they may support Feinberg, who formerly served as an aide to both senators, as well.

For Feinberg, the big question is whether his early conservative backing will translate into fundraising dollars. So far, it hasn’t. During the fourth quarter, Feinberg, who launched his campaign last fall, raised just $50,000. He’ll need to do better if he wants to catch up with Murphy, who raised more than five times that amount during the quarter and has nearly $1 million on hand.

Murphy, who has a spot on the influential Energy and Commerce Committee, has also received backup from the American Chemistry Council, which in December, took the unusual step of purchasing a $500,000 TV ad buy praising the congressman.

24 Responses

  1. I’m just glad that there are Republicans (even extremely conservative ones like Mr. Feinberg) who are supportive of their wives working outside the home — unlike our distinguished former Senator, Mr. Santorum.

  2. Dear petition checkers,
    A candidate does not need to release their petitions, they are there for the public record. Go look at them. Also, if you own two houses and rent one of them, you do not need income to pay for two because the tenant pays the mortgage…it is called a business transaction. You people look like fools.

  3. Thanks for proving the point, Judy Brown. For sure someone from the Murphy campaign is in Harrisburg and checking out those petition signatures line by line because no way Feinberg legally and honestly collected them. Anyone who has done petition work can attest to that. Feinberg should come clean and voluntarily release his petitions if he has nothing to hide.

  4. Political Hack – I suggest you go to Harrisburg and look at Evans petitions. Put up or shut up.

  5. @sarah 73000 and plus whatever you make isn’t enough to own 2 homes. Also, he is unemployed right now so he makes 0. so two homes with one salary, yeahhhh right!

  6. Evan has a good of a chance to win against murphy as does John Kensinger in the senate primary and good of a chance to beat murphy then maggi as micky mouse.

  7. Must be nice to have a “civilian” job at 26 where you can afford two houses and can float your hubby’s campaign. What’s your line of work?

  8. Yea. I circulated petitions before and no way did Feinberg get that many signatures if he just moved in December and has been living in DC for the past 10 years. You can’t just move into a town and get a congressional campaign up and running when you haven’t even belonged to a local committee before. Would love to look at Feinberg’s petitions. Those signatures are without a doubt some phony baloney fraud!

  9. Fair enough. He seems to have local roots (even though Grove City College is a little ways away from the district). He seems to have major connections in the DC conservative scene. The big question is — where are those connections on the fundraising front? That’s where the rubber meets the road, my friends.

  10. Feinberg is 27 years old and doesn’t have a job but owns two houses, one in DC and one he bought right next door to Murphy in Upper St Clair just 3 months ago then moved here because he wants to be a Congressman. That just does not make sense. Something is very suspicious about Feinberg. All he talks about is his big important job with Senator Rand Paul but legistorm website shows he was fired after just 3 months. Who is digging around on this candidate because I smell a rat here.

  11. I don’t normally engage anonymous cowards who hide behind fake names, but this issue has come up a few times, so allow me to set the record straight: Evan and I own two houses, one in Upper St Clair and one in Alexandria, VA. We live in USC and rent out our Alexandria house to friends. Evan made about $80,000/year as a senior aide, not a low level staffer (which is publicly available on legistorm). Believe it or not, women in the 21st century also have the ability to work and I am fortunate to make a great salary from my civilian job and in the USMC Reserves. We saved our money and invested in real assets. Since when is financial success and responsible investment a bad thing, particularly among Republicans? You are starting to sounds like the OWS movement.

  12. Geoff Staggerwald – Mike McMullen don’t you have the courage to actually post under your own name? You are constantly hiding behind others.

  13. Evan was not a low-level legislative aide. At the Heritage Foundation and then working for Tom Colburn and Rand Paul after he was elected in 2010, Evan was the lead working on health care issues.
    Murphy has voted for Card Check, PLA’s, Medicare D, SCHIPS, cash for clunkers, to bail out Fanniie and Freddie, and to eliminate incandescent light bulbs. He’s for big government and big spending and pro-union.
    For a list of his votes go here
    http://www.redstate.com/erick/2011/10/04/regaining-control-when-your-congressman-is-out-of-control/

  14. Let’s get some facts straight. He grew up in Peters Township and attended Grove City College. He owns a house in Upper St. Clair and is renting his house in DC. As in many families today his wife works and is also a Captain in the Marine Corps Reserve. His parents who used to live in Peters Township when they owned a couple of stores in the area moved to New Mexico. Their home in New Mexico is up for sale and they plan to move back to, if they are smart, Peters Township.

  15. Louis? You sure about that? That would mean that Evan has two mortgages and no job? Yep. He’s ready for congress. He’ll fit right in.

  16. Check the World Magazine article Feinberg promotes on his website. Of all the millenials mentioned Feinberg is the least accomplished — even Zach Wamp’s kid has his own business, and Ethan Wingfield’s background is truly impressive. Feinberg needs to spend some time in the private sector so he has some actual experience when he talks about capitolism and jobs.

  17. Saw Feinburg on Peters community TV. Total blowhard. His self-serving lectures are almost as condescending as Obama’s.

  18. How does Evan own two homes, Upper Saint Clair & Alexandria, with a low paying staffers salary? He only makes 40000-50000 a year. Someone like to explain that??? I make 200000 and cant afford that.

  19. Evan Feinberg doesnt own a house in the district, never had a private sector job, and never voted in this district. His parents buy everything for him and he doesn’t live in the real world of hard work. He has no experience in any field other than politics and claims to fought Obamacare in the trenches when he was a low level senate staffer. Tim Murphy fought obamacare in the house and was a leader (Chair of GOP Doctors caucus). Congressman Murphy is a leader in Congress on Energy, Health care, and arbortion. Evan will just bring more partisanship to congress that America is so against. Another question how do you expect to beat murphy then maggi with 40k?

  20. Interesting. Feinberg’s support is all from Washington based conservative groups. And all of his work experience is in Washington. And he moved to this district from Washington. and I bet most of his contributions are from Washington. So if Murphy is owned by unions, who owns Feinberg?

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