Patty Murray

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Patty Murray
Senior Senator, Washington
In office 1993 – Present
Preceded by	Brock Adams
Succeeded by	Incumbent (2011)
Born	October 11, 1950 Bothell, Washington
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Rob Murray
Religion	Roman Catholic

Patricia Lynn Murray (known as Patty Murray) (born October 11, 1950) is a Democratic United States Senator from Washington. She was first elected to the Senate in 1992 and has held the position ever since.

She was the chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2001 to 2003, and she is currently a member of the powerful United States Senate Committee on Appropriations and the ranking Democrat on the Transportation Appropriations Subcommittee. Murray is currently the Senate Minority Assistant Floor Leader.[1] In the 110th United States Congress, she will serve as secretary of the Senate Democratic Conference, the fourth-highest position in the caucus. [2]

[edit] Life and career

Patricia Lynn Johns was born in Bothell, Washington to Irish-American parents. Her father fought in World War II and was awarded a Purple Heart. Her mother was an accountant.

Murray received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Washington State University in 1972. She was a preschool teacher for several years and taught at Shoreline Community College from 1984 to 1987.

As a citizen-lobbyist for environmental and educational issues, she was once told that she couldn't make a difference because she was just a "mom in tennis shoes." The phrase stuck, and she later used it in her successful campaigns for Shoreline School District Board of Directors (1985-1989), Washington State Senate (1989-1993), and United States Senate (1993-).

Her husband is Rob Murray. They have two children, Randy and Sara.

[edit] United States Senate

In 1992, Murray announced her intentions to become the Democratic nominee for Senate following the publication of a series of articles by The Seattle Times alleging that incumbent Democrat Brock Adams had sexually assaulted a number of women.[3]

When Adams dropped out of the election prior to the primary, Murray was the only Democrat remaining and won the nomination. In the general election she faced Republican Representative Rod Chandler, whom she defeated 54% to 46%. In 1998 she won reelection by beating Representative Linda Smith, 58% to 42%. In 2004 she faced another Republican Representative, George Nethercutt, whom she defeated 55% to 43%, making her only the fourth Washington senator to win three consecutive terms.

Senator Murray at the podium, joined by (left to right), Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Sen. Debbie Stabenow (D-MI), Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) and Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-MD), launching an interactive website regarding the nomination of Judge John Roberts as the Chief Justice of the United States of America.

On August 2, 2006, the New York Times said, "In 1994, Senator Strom Thurmond of South Carolina was said to have engaged in excessive touching of his then-freshman colleague Patty Murray of Washington. Ms. Murray later asked for and received an apology from Mr. Thurmond, The Seattle Post-Intelligencer reported at the time. Through a spokeswoman, Ms. Murray declined to comment."

In December 2002, while speaking to Vancouver high school students, Murray made a number of comments she intended to be thought provoking, but ended up creating controversy and even became a campaign ad used by her opponent in 2004.[4] These comments linked Osama bin Laden's popularity around the world to his building of infrastructure in Muslim countries and the lack of popularity for the U.S. due to it not helping to build infrastructure .[5] Republican pundits and the conservative media were quick to criticize Murray for saying bin Laden was a humanitarian and that she was grossly uninformed as to the nature of the US's lack of popularity in Muslim countries.[6] Several local newspapers were quick to come to Murray's defense by saying that even though her comments were over-simplistic and poorly constructed, bin Laden has spent much of his personal fortune to gain influence over local leaders and promote his ideology by making investments, including infrastructure improvement projects, in those countries.[7]

In May 2006, Murray, along with 38 of 44 Senate Democrats, voted in favor of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S. 2611).[8] The controversial bill includes provisions to improve border security, increases fines and other punishments for employers of illegal immigrants, creation of a guest worker program (which includes an almost doubling of the number of H1-B visas,[9] and creates a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country .[10] The bill, with support from GOP leadership, passed 62-36.

[edit] Electoral history

• 2004 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Patty Murray (D) (inc.), 55%
  • George Nethercutt (R), 43%

• 1998 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Patty Murray (D) (inc.), 58%
  • Linda Smith (R), 42%

• 1992 Race for U.S. Senate
  • Patty Murray (D), 54%
  • Rod Chandler (R), 46%

[edit] See also

• Washington United States Senate election, 2004
• Maria Cantwell

[edit] External links

• Official Site
• Seattle Weekly: Patty, Jennifer, and Osama
• Washingtonian 2004
• Voting record maintained by the Washington Post