Stephanie Murphy
Stephanie Murphy is an American politician from the state of Florida. She is a member of the Democratic Party and a member of the United States House of Representatives for Florida's 7th congressional district, having defeated incumbent John Mica in 2016. The district includes much of downtown and northern Orlando, as well as all of Winter Park, Maitland, Sanford and Altamonte Springs.
Murphy is the first Vietnamese-American woman and the second Vietnamese-American overall to be elected to Congress.
Early life and education
Stephanie Murphy was born Đặng Thị Ngọc Dung on September 16, 1978, in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam. Her family fled Communist-controlled Vietnam in 1979 when she was six months old. Their boat ran out of fuel and they were rescued by the United States Navy while at sea. They settled in Northern Virginia, where she grew up.With the help of Pell Grants and student loans, Murphy attended the College of William & Mary, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics. She then went to Georgetown University, from which she received a Master of Science degree in foreign service.
Pre-congressional career
After the September 11 attacks, Murphy went to work for the United States Department of Defense as a national security specialist. She worked as an executive on investment efforts and government affairs initiatives at Sungate Capital in Winter Park, Florida, and as a business professor at Rollins College.U.S. House of Representatives
Elections
;2016Murphy declared her candidacy for the United States House of Representatives for Florida's 7th congressional district in the 2016 elections. She ran against 12-term incumbent Republican John Mica in the general election on November 8, 2016. She was endorsed by President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, and former congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords. Murphy defeated Mica, receiving 51% of the vote. Murphy is the second Vietnamese-American, after Joseph Cao, to be elected to the United States Congress, and the first Vietnamese-American woman to do so.
Murphy ran in a district that was somewhat bluer than its predecessor after a court-ordered mid-decade redistricting. The old 7th had been a marginal district, even though Mica had won it twice without serious difficulty. Mitt Romney narrowly won it over Barack Obama in 2012, with 51 percent of the vote. In contrast, had the redrawn 7th existed in 2012, Obama would have won it with 49.4 percent.
After meeting with President Trump in September 2017, Murphy said that she and fellow Democrats could work with him.
;2018
Murphy, according to political commentators, was faced with the challenge of representing an evenly divided district. "Of the three freshman Democrats from Central Florida, which include U.S. Reps. Val Demings, D-Orlando, and Darren Soto, D-Kissimmee, Murphy faces the toughest race for re-election," stated the Orlando Sentinel on January 2, 2018. "I think she has one of the toughest districts in the country," said Susan MacManus, a political science professor at the University of South Florida. "It's very difficult to please everybody in a swing district, and that's why it's so challenging."
She was re-elected with 57.6% of the vote, defeating Republican Mike Miller.
Tenure
Murphy was sworn into office on January 3, 2017. She has urged the Federal Bureau of Investigation to investigate various bomb threats against Jewish facilities. She joined the Blue Dog Coalition in the 115th U.S. Congress, and was named one of three co-chairs, handling administration, in December 2018 for the 116th U.S. Congress.With the Democrats winning a majority in the House in 2018, Murphy was named to the powerful Ways and Means Committee. She is only the 20th woman ever to serve on that committee. As it is one of the "exclusive committees" of the House, she had to give up her previous seats on the Armed Services and Small Business committees.
Committee assignments
- Committee on Ways and Means
- *Subcommittee on Trade
- *Subcommittee on Worker and Family Support
Caucus memberships
- Democratic National Security Task Force
- Blue Dog Coalition
- New Democrat Coalition
- Problem Solvers Caucus
- Climate Solutions Caucus
- LGBT Equality Caucus
- Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus
- Future Forum
Political positions
Gun policy
Murphy decided to run for office when incumbent Republican John Mica accepted a campaign contribution from the NRA two days after the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida.She won office with the support of gun-control groups, such as Americans for Responsible Solutions and the Pride Fund to End Gun Violence, which was formed after the Pulse shooting.
Murphy supports universal background checks, as well as prohibiting those on the No Fly List from purchasing firearms.
Murphy has stated, "We should protect the Second Amendment rights of law-abiding gun owners, but we should also protect our communities by passing commonsense gun laws."
In 2017, Murphy introduced the into the United States House of Representatives, which was designed to repeal the 1996 federal ban on the use of federal funds to fund gun-violence research.
Murphy stated that the current ban on gun-violence research was "un-American to its core."
As of February 2018, the Act had not been voted on. Following the 2018 Stoneman Douglas High School shooting in Parkland, Florida, several Republican Congress members indicated that they were in favor of the Gun Violence Research Act.
In March 2018, Murphy said that gun control might be approaching "a tipping point" because the present younger generation "had to grow up where they don't know anything but school mass shootings. They're sick and tired of it, and they're activating."
Immigration
Murphy co-sponsored the DREAM Act and voted several times to force a House vote on it. She was, however, one of only 24 House Democrats who voted for Kate's Law, under which "an alien who has been excluded, deported, removed, or denied admission, or who has departed the United States while under an outstanding order of exclusion, deportation, or removal, and who subsequently crosses or attempts to cross the border into the United States, shall be fined, imprisoned not more than two years, or both." To demonstrate her support for immigration reform, she posted online a picture of herself wearing an "I Am An Immigrant" t-shirt along with the message, "#IAmAnImmigrant and proud of it. Our nation's diversity is its strength. Opportunity and freedom keep the American dream alive."Murphy opposed President Trump's executive order to temporarily ban entry into the United States by citizens of six Muslim-majority countries. "I strongly oppose the President's executive orders on refugees, which violate fundamental American values and undermine our national security," she said. "We must work in a bipartisan manner to strengthen our refugee policy in a way that keeps us secure AND upholds our values."