Meeting Stephanie Murphy for Congress (Florida – CD7)

I had first heard of Stephanie Murphy while seeing a DailyKos headline on Facebook titled, Dems come through at the last minute with competitive district (FL-7) … and what a candidate!:

“Murphy isn’t just a young up and comer—she has quite a resume. She is a former national security specialist, and an executive at Sungate Capital, where she is responsible for leading investment efforts and implementing government initiatives. She was the director at the Center for Innovative Health Care, and is also a professor of business and social entrepreneurship at Rollins College.

Not impressed yet? Okay. How’s this: she is also an expert on foreign affairs. She has served as a national security specialist in the Office of the Secretary of Defense where she received the prestigious Secretary of Defense Medal for Exceptional Civilian Service. Her bio notes that she worked on a wide range of security issues from counterterrorism to foreign military relations.

She also serves on several nonprofit boards and somehow finds time to be wife and mother of two young children.

Still not impressed? Very well. How about her backstory? She left a Vietnamese refugee camp when she was six months old, and her parents worked as laborers while she and her brother became the first of her family to go to college. She is the epitome of the American dream.”

and recognized her when she spoke at the AAPI Caucus at the Democratic National Convention in Philadelphia.

My friend Otto Lee happened to be hosting a fundraiser in downtown San Jose and I was able to meet and chat with her.

What was interesting to hear from Stephanie was how much her opponent, long time Republican incumbent, Congressman John Mica, is openly supporting Trump for President:

“Kris Hammond, an elected delegate to the 2016 GOP convention who also is a member of #NeverTrump, tweeted news of Mica’s love for Trump. “Rep. John Mica says ‘I love Trump,’ then says joking but open to supporting,” Hammond tweeted. “Likes his immigration stand & business cred.””

Also, what I thought was a touching moment was when someone introduced a fellow Vietnamese American immigrant who came to the U.S. during middle school or so, and was about to go to college. Stephanie was impressed. She came to the U.S. as a refugee as a baby, so she essentially grew up speaking and understanding English (she also speaks Vietnamese, Spanish and Japanese).

Stephanie spoke about her experience working in Japan – and even after studying textbook Japanese in college – when she arrived in Japan, felt helpless and truly felt what her parents must have felt as immigrants to the U.S. She began to fully appreciate what her parents went through as she often had to be a translator for her parents. That story reminded me of what it must have been like for my parents to have immigrants in the 1960s, which must have been a whole lot tougher!

Stephanie has a real chance of winning this Congressional District 7 in Florida, as she’s got the backing of the Democratic Party:

“DCCC Chairman and U.S. Rep. Ben Ray Luján of New Mexico announced Friday Murphy would be added to the PAC’s Red to Blue program, which provides training, money and assistance to candidates in races throughout the country that Democrats target, thinking they can flip them from Republican control.

In this case, Murphy is seeking to take on a well-entrenched, 12-term incumbent in Mica.”

Due to redistricting, the district is more balanced in regards to registered Democrats and Republicans. So I’m looking forward to hopefully seeing Stephanie defeat this 12-term Trump-loving incumbent!