Patricia Lynn "Patty" Murray (née Johns, born October 11, 1950) is the senior United States senator from Washington. A Democrat, Murray was first elected to the U.S. Senate in 1992, becoming Washington's first female U.S. senator. She is now the Senate Majority Conference Secretary.
Murray was the chairwoman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee from 2001 to 2003, and she is now a senior member of the United States Senate Committee on Appropriations and the chairwoman of its Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies Subcommittee.
Patty Murray is running for re-election which will be held on November 2, 2010. Her opponent will be former State Senator Dino Rossi (who on August 18 easily beat former NFL player Clint Didier, in the Primary.
Early life, education and career
Murray was born in Bothell, Washington to Beverly A. McLaughlin and David L. Johns. She is one of seven children. 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 says she was once told by a state representative 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 – present). Murray was successful in gathering grassroots support to strike down proposed preschool program budget cuts.
Her 1988 State Senate campaign was successful and she unseated incumbent Republican Bill Kiskadden. She was commended by the Seattle Post Intelligencer.
United States Senator
In 1992, Murray announced her intention to become the Democratic nominee for U.S. 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.
Although Adams denied the charges, he resigned before the primary, and Murray defeated Representative Don Bonker to win the Democratic nomination. In the general election she faced Republican Representative Rod Chandler, whom she defeated 54 percent to 46 percent despite being outspent by a wide margin. In 1998 she won reelection against Representative Linda Smith, 58 percent to 42 percent. In 2004 she faced another Republican Representative, George Nethercutt, whom she defeated 55 percent to 43 percent.
On January 30, 2008, Murray endorsed Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential primaries. One month later, the Washington Democratic caucus awarded two-thirds of its delegates to Barack Obama and one-third to Clinton. After Clinton's June 7 concession, Murray switched her endorsement to Obama.
Committee assignments
Committee on Appropriations
Subcommittee on Defense
Subcommittee on Energy and Water Development
Subcommittee on Homeland Security
Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies
Subcommittee on Transportation, Housing and Urban Development, and Related Agencies (Chairwoman)
Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions
Subcommittee on Children and Families
Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety (Chairwoman)
Committee on the Budget
Committee on Rules and Administration
Joint Committee on Printing
Political positions
Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan
In October 2002, Murray was one of 21 Democrats in the Senate to vote against the War Authoritization for invading Iraq. Quoted from her Senate speech:
Mr. President, if we do take action in Iraq, there is no doubt that our armed forces will prevail. We will win a war with Iraq decisively, and, God willing, we will win it quickly. But what happens after the war? That will have as big an impact on our future peace and security. Will we be obligated to rebuild Iraq? If so, how? Our economy is reeling, our budget is in deficit, and we have no estimate of the cost of rebuilding. And with whom? As New York Times columnist Tom Friedman points out, there's a retail store mentality that suggests to some — if "you break it, you buy it."
In December 2002, while speaking to students at Columbia River High School in Vancouver, Murray made a number of remarks that proved controversial, with one even appearing in a campaign ad by her opponent in 2004. Murray won reelection, albeit by a smaller margin than her previous election. These comments linked Osama bin Laden's popularity around the world to his building of infrastructure, including day care centers, in Muslim countries and the lack of popularity for the U.S. due to it not helping to build infrastructure.
Conservative pundits were quick to criticize Murray, accusing her of saying bin Laden was a humanitarian and being uninformed as to the nature of the U.S.'s lack of popularity in Muslim countries. 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.
Global Trade Exchange
Senator Patty Murray put the controversial intelligence ports-data project "Global Trade Exchange" into the Homeland security budget, alleged, in a case filed with human rights entities, to have led to a covert attack on a U.S. citizen abroad. The attack is considered to have been lawful in the U.S. context, due to immunization of intelligence activities under the Protect America Act of 2007.
Other
In May 2006, Murray, along with 38 of 44 Senate Democrats, voted in favor of the Comprehensive Immigration Reform Act of 2006 (S. 2611). The 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 H-1B visas), and creates a path to citizenship for illegal immigrants already in the country. The bill, with support from some in the GOP leadership, passed 62-36.
Murray repeatedly cosponsored legislation to create the Wild Sky Wilderness area in the Washington Cascade Range. She eventually succeeded, with the bill being signed by President Bush on May 8, 2008. Murray has also supported legislation to increase the size of the Alpine Lakes Wilderness, also in the Washington Cascades.
Murray opposes the U.S. Air Force's choice of a consortium consisting of Northrop Grumman and Airbus over Boeing, a major employer in Washington, to build the next generation (KC-X) of refueling tankers.[20] When it was discovered that the Air Force incorrectly calculated the lifetime operating costs of the two planes, a correction that resulted in the Boeing plane having a lower lifetime operating cost, Murray claimed the "process was flawed from the outset and this is further evidence that we need serious answers from the Pentagon before moving forward."
2010 U.S. Senate campaign
See also: United States Senate election in Washington, 2010
Murray faces a competitive 2010 reelection bid against Republican challenger Dino Rossi, a two time Gubernatorial candidate.
Personal life
Murray is married to Rob Murray and has two grown children, Sara and Randy. Sara is married to Nitin Bhagat. Murray is a grandmother; Randy and his wife Erin have a son. Patty Murray enjoys fishing, exploring the outdoors and spending time with her family. Murray is a lifelong resident of Bothell, Washington.
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