Mitch Perry
Though he’s hardly a household name in the Tampa Bay area, Democrats in the region are reacting with high praise for Patrick Murphy, the 31-year-old second-term South Florida Congressman who announced his candidacy for the 2016 U.S. Senate on Sunday.
“I’m a very excited Floridian. I think he’ll be great for the state, and the Democratic Party and the U.S. Senate,” said Justin Day, a Tampa-based lobbyist, Democratic Party fundraiser and Murphy friend. “He’s the real deal. He’s young, energetic, thoughtful, and most importantly, bipartisan, which the Senate could use a lot more of that.”
“I know him and could not think of a better candidate,” Tampa Mayor Bob Buckhorn told Florida Politics early Monday. “I think he is positioned perfectly to compete in all areas of the state, and to bring a commonsense, mainstream approach to the Senate.”
It’s not surprising to hear the mayor extoll Murphy’s virtues. The two seem to share a similar philosophy of being centrist Democrats whose appeal transcends party politics.
“I think his background and voting record, his attractiveness as a moderate campaign, is good for our party,” Tampa Democratic strategist Ana Cruz said. “Republicans love to beat up Democrats that we are (big) spenders, that’s the one knock that they have on us … but that’s not the case, and so Patrick really plays into that fiscal moderate candidate that I think will be very attractive to Florida voters.”
Murphy is a former CPA who used to be a Republican. But as he told this reporter on Sunday night, the rap that he’s too moderate for Florida Democratic primary voters isn’t accurate.
“I’m a strong supporter of comprehensive immigration reform,” he said. “I vocally supported raising the minimum wage, and voted for it. One hundred-percent I support a woman’s right to choose. I support marriage equality. I mean, these are all issues that I’m very vocal about, and a strong supporter of.”
Murphy achieved national fame in political circles for his upset victory over tea party favorite Allan West in 2012, in a race that he was outspent by a more than a 4-1 ratio. Considered extremely vulnerable in his GOP-leaning district, Murphy raised an astounding $5 million in 2014, and crushed former GOP state legislator Carl Domino.
“He’s got the one quality that we need as Democrats: He can raise a lot of money,” Democratic political consultant Vic DiMaio said.
Tampa City Councilman Mike Suarez credits Murphy for doing a “terrific job” in winning in a swing-state congressional district such as Florida’s 18th, but says if Alan Grayson does challenge Murphy as expected, “There’s a huge section of Democrats, specifically the liberal wing, that will really jump onto that bandwagon.”
Both Murphy and Grayson have proven to be strong fundraisers. Grayson told The Hill in February, “Slate magazine called me the most effective member of Congress, and that puts me in a fundamentally different position than other potential candidates, whether we’re talking about Patrick or Gwen (Graham).”
Graham, another centrist Democrat, won election to Congress in the Panhandle/Tallahassee area in November. Cruz said Graham could also be a contender for the Democratic nomination next year. “I think she’s going to get in,” she said.
DiMaio said the Hillsborough Democratic Party has been working for awhile to have Murphy address the party at its annual Kennedy-King dinner this year. “He’s got to come to Hillsborough County,” DiMaio said. “We’re ground zero. You cannot win the state without winning Tampa, without winning Hillsborough County, without winning the Bay area.”
DiMaio also thinks Grayson and/or Graham could get into the Democratic race, but said, “Alan will have a tough time getting those middle-of-the-road (voters) to cross over. Independents are the key to winning any election. If you can appeal to the middle, you can win.”
Susan Smith disagreed. The leader of the Democratic Party Progressive Caucus, Smith issued a statement Monday showing that their organization voted overwhelmingly for Grayson to be their standard bearer. She wrote, “Progressives are clearly looking for a bold champion who will inspire and engage voters. We can’t afford to run former Republicans or corporate Democrats who consider themselves ‘centrists’ but who are really ‘Republican lite.’ If we do that, we lose.”
No doubt Murphy has a lot of work to do to increase his name identification. Several Tampa Bay area Democrats who Florida Politics contacted admitted they knew little about him and wouldn’t offer an opinion. They include St. Petersburg Mayor Rick Kriseman. Spokesman Ben Kirby said the mayor hasn’t spent any time with Murphy, “but is certainly looking forward to doing so.”
