Another Blue Dog Slipped Into Congress Disguised As A Florida Democrat

Yes, we got rid of Patrick Murphy, but...

Although the DCCC listed 11 Democrats on their Front Line list of vulnerable incumbents, heading into Tuesday's election only 3 were thought be be seriously vulnerable: Ami Bera (New Dem-CA), Rick Nolan (MN) and Brad Ashford (Blue Dog-NE). Bera, who is narrowly leading, is one of only two incumbents nationally whose race still hasn't been called. The DCCC spent $2,459,123 on his campaign and Pelosi's House Majority PAC kicked down another $699,724. Nolan won his race, but the DCCC and House Majority PAC put in $7.7 million. The only Democratic incumbent to lose was Brad Ashford, a former Republican who switched to being a Blue Dog. He has the single worst voting record of any Democrat in the House, worse than several Republicans, in fact! The DCCC and House Majority PAC wasted around $3.4 million on trying to save him. If there was a silver-ling to the cloud that wrecked the DCCC's hopes Tuesday it was their failure to resuscitate the Blue Dogs in the House.

Nolan was the only progressive on the Front Line list. The rest are a pack of worthless New Dems, Blue Dogs and conservaDems.

• Rep. Kyrsten Sinema (Blue Dog-AZ)
• Rep. Ami Bera (New Dem-CA)
• Rep. Julia Brownley (CA)
• Rep. Pete Aguilar (New Dem-CA)
• Rep. Raul Ruiz (CA)
• Rep. Scott Peters (New Dem-CA)
• Rep. Cheri Bustos (Blue Dog-IL)
• Rep. Rick Nolan (MN)
• Rep. Brad Ashford (Blue Dog-NE)
• Rep. Annie Kuster (New Dem-NH)
• Rep. Sean Patrick Maloney (New Dem-NY)

Most of the New Dems and Blue Dogs that the DCCC recruited this cycle were defeated Tuesday... very expensively. But, Stephanie Murphy, one who didn't lose, didn't tell voters she is a Blue Dog before the election. She defeated long-time GOP powerhouse, John Mica in the northern Orlando Metro (FL-07). She bested him by around 10,000 votes-- 51.5-48.5%.

This was Mica's first competitive re-election in decades. After the state Supreme Court redrew Florida's congressional lines, his 7th District became more Democratic. And for the first time in years, Democrats succeeded in fielding a strong candidate against the 12-term incumbent.

Republicans fretted this fall that Mica wasn't expending the time or resources to introduce himself to new voters in his redrawn district. He only recently aired his first TV spot, trailing Murphy and other Democratic groups that had been on the air earlier.

...Murphy, the member-elect, was six months old when her parents fled with her and her brother from communist Vietnam to a refugee camp in Malaysia and then moved on to settle in the United States.

Her resume includes an executive position at SunGate Capital, an investment firm, and a stint at the Defense Department where she worked as a foreign affairs specialist on a range of issues, including military relations and national security.

She teaches business and social entrepreneurship at Rollins College in Winter Park, Florida.

A fiscal conservative with plans to join the Blue Dog Coalition, Murphy supports policies including withholding lawmakers’ salaries if they don’t pass a budget on time and adding a constitutional amendment to balance the budget.