At a time when their party has no official leader, appearing rudderless at times, few Democrats are sticking their neck out as often as Sen. Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
Now, Murphy is taking his efforts on the road.
The 51-year-old Murphy, who was just reelected to a third Senate term, is occasionally mentioned as the Democratic Party’s future and potential 2028 presidential candidate. But Murphy, who held a town hall in Warren, Mich. on Saturday, says he’s just doing his part to spotlight what he calls an unpopular GOP agenda while helping his party climb out of its post-election doldrums.
“We all have a responsibility to be out there all across the country, especially in places where Republicans are hiding,” Murphy told us in an interview Sunday. “Our biggest problem yesterday was the fire marshal who kept turning people away.”
Murphy teamed up with 28-year-old Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) for the town hall in a GOP district, and said the duo plans to continue throughout the spring. Murphy encouraged other Democrats to do the same during Congress’ two-week recess in April, when the attention will turn to Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill and the potential cuts to programs like Medicaid.
Messaging war: Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, who’s still reeling from the government funding fight that sparked widespread backlash against him, has name-checked Murphy as one of the party’s best messengers.
Schumer has spoken openly about his goal of driving President Donald Trump’s poll numbers down to help create a political environment in which Republicans are reluctant to hitch their wagon to him. That starts with zeroing in on possible Medicaid cuts as part of Republicans’ tax package and exploiting GOP divisions on the subject.
To be sure, Democrats have no way of stopping a GOP tax cut. Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process, meaning they only need a simple majority in the Senate.
But Murphy is using his tour, in part, to put pressure on the handful of Republicans who have said they won’t vote for a bill that cuts Medicaid.
“These aren’t political rallies with no legislative purpose,” Murphy said. “We’re not trying to just drive up Trump’s disapproval ratings. We’re trying to stop them from passing harmful policy.”
In our interview and on the stump, Murphy referenced Republicans’ first attempt at a budget reconciliation bill in 2017 — repealing the Affordable Care Act. That effort went down in flames with the late Sen. John McCain’s (R-Ariz.) famous thumbs-down vote against the effort. But Murphy suggested that saga — and the successful Democratic messaging campaign that kept the ACA alive — could serve as a blueprint for Democrats this time around.
However, for Republicans, the stakes are much higher with this particular effort, as are the costs of failure. Not only would Americans see a tax increase if Republicans don’t extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts, but economic calamity could ensue, given GOP leaders’ bid to raise the debt limit as part of reconciliation. Of course, this would become an impetus for Republicans to reach across the aisle for something that could get 60 votes. But Trump and GOP leaders will exhaust every possible option before that happens.
He’s got company: Murphy said Democrats need to prioritize parts of the country where Trump was popular last November. Rep. John James (R-Mich.) represents the district he and Frost visited Saturday.
Murphy and Frost aren’t alone in fanning out across the country. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) have been speaking to massive crowds as part of their “Fighting Oligarchy” tour. Murphy said he and Sanders have spoken about their efforts.
“None of the rest of us are gonna draw the kind of crowds that Bernie draws,” Murphy said, adding but “without his leadership, I don’t know if we’d be in a position today where more and more members are doing the same.”
