He will finish out his current term.
“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the great people of District 133 and the State of Texas these past seven years,” Murphy’s statement read.
“I will remain attentive to my duties and focused on my responsibilities as Chairman of the House Committee on Higher Education to improve higher education as Chairman of the House Republican Caucus to strengthen and expand the Republican majority in the Texas House.”
He concluded, “I’m not going away anytime soon; I’m just looking forward to life’s next great opportunity.”
Murphy was first elected to the House in 2006 and has won re-election easily ever since. His current district is rated R-62 percent by The Texan’s Texas Partisan Index and Murphy was rated the sixth most liberal Republican during the 87th regular session by Rice University’s 2021 ratings.
During this past interim, Murphy was elected chair in a secret ballot vote. He guided the caucus through the regular legislative session and its following special sessions alongside new Speaker Dade Phelan (R-Beaumont).
He also chaired the House Higher Education Committee and served on the Ways & Means Committee this year. During the regular session, Murphy was party to one of the biggest legislative surprises in Chapter 313’s lack of renewal by the body, as he authored a version of the program’s renewal that would have drastically expanded what the tax abatement could be approved for. His bill was killed by a point of order on the House floor.
Murphy’s retirement brings the open House seats for 2022 to 10, opening the door for a sizable turnover heading into the 2023 session. Murphy joins another powerful Republican in forgoing re-election, State Affairs Committee Chair Chris Paddie (R-Marshall).
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Brad Johnson
Brad Johnson is a senior reporter for The Texan and an Ohio native who graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 2017. He is an avid sports fan who most enjoys watching his favorite teams continue their title drought throughout his cognizant lifetime. In his free time, you may find Brad quoting Monty Python productions and trying to calculate the airspeed velocity of an unladen swallow.
