Phil Ammann
U.S. Rep. Patrick Murphy, one of few bright spots for Democrats in 2014, could be the key to shoring up a dwindling cluster of Democratic lawmakers in Washington D.C.
After Murphy’s easy win in November, the nonpartisan Cook Political Report on Friday moved Florida’s 18th Congressional District – which covers much of the Treasure Coast — to “likely Democratic.” The freshman Democrat from Jupiter had faced Republican former state Rep. Carl Domino to win a second congressional term.
Earlier the 2014 midterm election cycle, many considered Murphy’s district a virtual minefield for Democrats. Senate Republicans anticipated a sweep in states won by Mitt Romney in 2012, similar to what happened in the House.
And that is exactly what happened, for the most part.
In addition, veteran Democrats Jim Matheson and Mike McIntyre, hailing from conservative districts, retired to leave their seats open what became a GOP sweep. Republicans in Georgia and West Virginia also overcame Reps. John Barrow and Nick Rahall, respectively.
Nevertheless, Murphy, who won one of the closest congressional races in the country in 2012, prevailed by winning re-election with nearly 60 percent of the vote in a district President Obama lost just two years earlier.
Much of Murphy’s success was certainly because of a notable lack of controversy during his first two years in Congress, as well as an ardently bipartisan voting record focusing on local issues.
For example, Murphy was one of only four Democrats to receive the endorsement from pro-business (and Republican-leaning) U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2014.
Murphy was also one of seven Democrats nationwide to receive the Chamber’s “Spirit of Enterprise” Award for supporting pro-growth policies. Adding to that, National Journal ranked Murphy’s voting record last August among the top five percent most independent of all House members.
Murphy, who the National Journal described in 2013 as “boring like a fox,” won with a strategy that earned (grudging) respect from Domino campaign manager Larry Casey.
“Patrick Murphy ran his campaign, and his last two years in Congress, as if he were the mayor of St. Lucie, Martin, and Palm Beach counties,” Casey said to The Palm Beach Post after the election.
Murphy’s victory also could offer a blueprint for Democrats to retake the House in the future.
“Bipartisanship is something both parties need to wake up to,” Murphy told the Journal in November. “It’s the only way we’re really going to get anything done. If people really care about the issues, the answer’s going to have to be in the middle ground.”
With the midterms over, and a presidential race on the horizon, the new “likely Democrat” designation for CD 18 could prove an early indication of what it will take for a Democratic resurgence in 2016.
