Mary Murphy (politician)
Mary Catherine Murphy is a Minnesota, USA, politician and a member of the Minnesota House of Representatives. A member of the Minnesota Democratic–Farmer–Labor Party, she represents District 3B, which includes portions of Lake and St. Louis counties in the northeastern part of the state. She is a retired history and social studies teacher at Duluth Central High School in Duluth. She is active in historical preservation and works as a grounds manager.
Murphy was first elected in 1976, and has been re-elected every two years since then. Prior to the 1982 legislative redistricting, she represented the old District 14B, and prior to the 2002 redistricting, she represented the old District 8A. She was chair of the Ethics Committee during the 2007–08 and 2009–10 bienniums.
Murphy previously chaired the House Labor-Management Relations Subcommittee for Negotiation, General Labor and Legislation from 1979 to 1982, the Commerce and Economic Development Subcommittee for Commerce and Job Creation during the 1983–84 biennium, the Labor-Management Relations Subcommittee for the Unemployment Insurance and Workers Compensation Division during the 1987–88 biennium, the Economic Development Subcommittee for the Rural Resource Development Division during the 1989–90 biennium, the Energy Committee during the 1991–92 biennium, the Judiciary Subcommittee for the Judiciary Finance Division from 1993 to 1998, and the Finance Subcommittee for the Education Finance and Economic Competitiveness Finance Division during the 2007–08 biennium. She was an assistant minority leader during the 2001–02 biennium.
Murphy graduated from Hermantown High School in Hermantown, then went on to the College of St. Scholastica in Duluth, graduating with a B.A. in history in 1961. She later attended graduate school at Indiana University, at Macalester College in Saint Paul, at American University in Washington D.C., at the University of Wisconsin in Superior, and at the University of Minnesota in Duluth. She is a former member of the Minnesota delegation to the Great Lakes Commission and, more recently, served on the Minnesota Statehood Sesquicentennial Commission from 2006 to 2008.
Murphy's key legislative concerns include labor and union advocacy, women’s economic issues, education, consumer protection, health care, criminal justice, jobs, and capitol projects.
