Erin Murphy (born March 13, 1960) is a

Minnesota Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...

politician and member of the

Minnesota Senate The Minnesota Senate is the upper house of the Legislature of the U.S. state of Minnesota. At 67 members, half as many as the Minnesota House of Representatives, it is the largest upper house of any U.S. state legislature. Floor sessions are h ...

. A member of the

Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party The Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL) is the Minnesota affiliate of the U.S. Democratic Party. As of 2022, it controls four of Minnesota's eight U.S. House seats, both of its U.S. Senate seats, the Minnesota House of Repr ...

(DFL), she represents District 64, which includes the Highland Park, Macalester-Groveland, Merriam Park, Summit Hill, and St. Anthony Park, neighborhoods of the city of

Saint Paul Paul; grc, Παῦλος, translit=Paulos; cop, ⲡⲁⲩⲗⲟⲥ; hbo, פאולוס השליח (previously called Saul of Tarsus;; ar, بولس الطرسوسي; grc, Σαῦλος Ταρσεύς, Saũlos Tarseús; tr, Tarsuslu Pavlus; ...

in Ramsey County in the

Twin Cities Twin cities are a special case of two neighboring cities or urban centres that grow into a single conurbation – or narrowly separated urban areas – over time. There are no formal criteria, but twin cities are generally comparable in sta ...

metropolitan area. She is a former

Majority Leader of the Minnesota House of Representatives This is a list of majority leaders of the Minnesota House of Representatives Notes on Minnesota political party names *Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party: On April 15, 1944 the state Democratic Party and the Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party ...

, executive director of the

Minnesota Nurses Association The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) is a labor union representing 22,000 registered nurses in the U.S. state of Minnesota. MNA represents the majority of bedside nurses in the state of Minnesota, as well as nurses in Wisconsin and Iowa. They ar ...

, and is also a registered nurse.

Education

Murphy graduated from high school in Janesville,

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

, and attended the University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh, receiving her

B.S. A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Science was the University ...

in nursing in 1984. She earned her

M.A. A Master of Arts ( la, Magister Artium or ''Artium Magister''; abbreviated MA, M.A., AM, or A.M.) is the holder of a master's degree awarded by universities in many countries. The degree is usually contrasted with that of Master of Science. Tho ...

in organizational leadership in health care at the College of St. Catherine in

in 2005, and also attended the Humphrey Institute at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public land-grant research university in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States. ...

from 2005 to 2006 as a policy fellow.

Career and community service

Murphy is a former executive director of the Minnesota Nurses Association and has also worked for the organization as a lobbyist and organizer. She worked in state government as legislative director for former Minnesota Attorney General Hubert H. Humphrey III, and as community relations director for the Minnesota Department of Children, Families and Learning. She was also an operating room nurse at the University of Minnesota Medical Center. Murphy served on the board of directors of Citizens for a Safer Minnesota from 1999 to 2001, and as a member of the board of trustees of the

American Nurses Association The American Nurses Association (ANA) is a 501(c)(6) professional organization to advance and protect the profession of nursing. It started in 1896 as the Nurses Associated Alumnae and was renamed the American Nurses Association in 1911. It is b ...

political action committee. She was also an executive board member of the Minnesota chapter of the

AFL–CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL–CIO) is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 56 national and international unions, together representing more than 12 million ac ...

Minnesota House of Representatives

Murphy was first elected in 2006, and reelected in

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

, 2010,

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gat ...

, and

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

. She served on the Rules and Legislative Administration Committee, the Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee, the Taxes Committee, the Finance Subcommittee for Health Care and Human Services Finance Division, and the Health Care and Human Services Policy and Oversight Subcommittee for the Licensing Division. After the 2012 elections, Murphy was elected by the DFL House caucus to be

Majority Leader In U.S. politics (as well as in some other countries utilizing the presidential system), the majority floor leader is a partisan position in a legislative body.

2018 gubernatorial campaign

Murphy announced her candidacy for

governor of Minnesota The governor of Minnesota is the head of government of the U.S. state of Minnesota, leading the state's executive branch. Forty people have been governor of Minnesota, though historically there were also three governors of Minnesota Territory. ...

on November 17, 2016. She said her top priorities in office would be ensuring proper care for Minnesota's aging population, lessening the educational achievement gap, reducing racial disparities among Minnesotans, and bringing more jobs to Minnesota. Murphy supported a statewide single-payer healthcare system. She earned the endorsement of the

Minnesota DFL Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to i ...

at its annual convention in

Rochester Rochester may refer to: Places Australia * Rochester, Victoria Canada * Rochester, Alberta United Kingdom *Rochester, Kent ** City of Rochester-upon-Medway (1982–1998), district council area ** History of Rochester, Kent ** HM Prison ...

on June 2, 2018, after seven rounds of voting.

Lori Swanson Lori Swanson (born December 16, 1966) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the attorney general of Minnesota from 2007 to 2019. She was the first female attorney general elected in Minnesota. In 2018, she ran for Governor of Minnes ...

announced her candidacy after the convention, where she lost the endorsement for attorney general. U.S. Representative

Tim Walz Timothy James Walz ( ; born April 6, 1964) is an American politician and retired educator. A member of the Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party (DFL), he has served as the 41st governor of Minnesota since 2019. Born in West Point, Nebraska, Wal ...

defeated Murphy and Swanson in the August 14 primary and was elected governor in November.

Minnesota State Senate

In October 2019, Murphy announced she would launch a primary campaign against State Senator Dick Cohen. Murphy's House district covered the northern half of Cohen's Senate district. The next month, Cohen dropped out of the race. Murphy was elected to the

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

. Murphy serves as the Ranking Minority Member on the Agriculture and Rural Development Finance and Policy Committee.

References

External links

Murphy for Governor official campaign website

Project Votesmart - Rep. Erin Murphy Profile
, - {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Erin 1960 births Living people Politicians from Saint Paul, Minnesota Democratic Party members of the Minnesota House of Representatives Democratic Party Minnesota state senators St. Catherine University alumni University of Wisconsin–Oshkosh alumni Humphrey School of Public Affairs alumni Women state legislators in Minnesota People from Columbus, Wisconsin 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians