I first met then candidate Stephanie Murphy shortly after the 2016 Democratic National Convention in July. What I didn’t realize, or had forgotten, was that Murphy had announced running for Congress in June 2016 – and essentially ran a 4-month campaign and defeating a 12-term (24 year) incumbent, Congressman John Mica. That is pretty unprecedented.
So it was with great pleasure that I was able to meet now Congresswoman Stephanie Murphy recently when she was back visiting the Bay Area. One thing I learned prior to me having the chance to interview her is that basically Mica & the Republicans took her for granted and that she had a massive get-out-the-vote ground game – where her campaign knocked on over I believe 120,000 doors in the district.
Well, this time around for November 2018, Murphy is a big target for Republicans to maintain the majority in the House. She’s one of two in Florida that the GOP is targeting:
“Florida Reps. Charlie Crist and Stephanie Murphy are among GOP targets for the midterm elections.”
In my brief interview with Murphy though, I didn’t focus in on her re-election, but how it’s been like to be in Congress, what has surprised her, what committees she’s on, as well as her recent trip to Vietnam on an official Congressional delegation and the kind words that Senator McCain had for Murphy as well as the Vietnamese American community has done for America, which I thought was quite touching.
