Tag: john mica

Murphy said she would focus on building the Democratic Party in Florida instead of running against Rubio. 

After years of carefully crafting her image as someone willing to work across the aisle, U.S. Rep. Stephanie Murphy, D-Fla., is starting to go on at the attack against Republicans as buzz builds that she will challenge U.S. Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., in 2022. 

“Created for the first time this Congress, the subcommittee has jurisdiction over military intelligence, special operations forces, counter-terrorism, efforts to stop the production and spread of weapons of mass destruction, and other sensitive military operations,” the congresswoman’s office noted. 

Murphy, who worked at the U.S. Defense Department under President George W. Bush, will serve on the U.S. House Intelligence and Special Operations and the Tactical Air and Land Forces Subcommittees which are both under the umbrella of the Armed Services Committee. The Central Florida congresswoman joined the committee this year.

Murphy announced she will serve as co-chair of administration while U.S. Rep. Ed Case, D-Hi., will stay in charge of policy and U.S. Rep. Tom O’Halleran, D-Ariz., remains in charge of communications. 

First elected to Congress in 2016 when she upset longtime U.S. Rep. John Mica, R-Fla., Murphy has tried to claim the center on Capitol Hill and her work on the U.S. House Armed Services and the Small Business Committees helped her on that front. So has her caucus memberships including helping lead the Democratic National Security Task Force, the Blue Dog Coalition and the Future Forum. Murphy is also a member of the New Democrat Coalition and the Problem Solvers Caucus which needled incoming U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., as she tried to regain the gavel two years ago but eventually backed her after getting a few concessions.

Over the past decade, Florida Republicans have made it a habit of winning the close ones. Rick Scott narrowly edged then state CFO Alex Sink in the 2010 gubernatorial race. Four years later, Scott held off former Gov. Charlie Crist. In 2016, Trump beat out Hillary Clinton in the Sunshine State.