Donald E. Murphy (born July 8, 1960) is an American politician who was a member of the

Maryland House of Delegates The Maryland House of Delegates is the lower house of the Maryland General Assembly, legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. It consists of 141 delegates elected from 47 districts. The House of Delegates Chamber is in the Maryland State House ...

, representing District 12A, which covered portions of

Baltimore Baltimore is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Maryland. With a population of 585,708 at the 2020 census and estimated at 568,271 in 2024, it is the 30th-most populous U.S. city. The Baltimore metropolitan area is the 20th-large ...

and Howard County Maryland.

Education

Murphy was born in

on July 8, 1960. His mother, Marguerite Murphy (), worked as a computer operator for Maryland National Bank. Murphy graduated from Andover Senior High School, afterwards attending the

University of Baltimore The University of Baltimore (UBalt, UB) is a public university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. It is part of the University System of Maryland. UBalt consists of four colleges in applied arts and sciences, Robert G. Merrick School of Bu ...

, where he earned a

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in real estate and finance in 1983.

Career

After graduating, Murphy worked as a real estate consultant. He was a co-founder of the Patapsco Valley Republican Club and a past president of the Holmehurst Community Association. Murphy was first elected to the Maryland House of Delegates in

1994 The year 1994 was designated as the " International Year of the Family" and the "International Year of Sport and the Olympic Ideal" by the United Nations. In the Line Islands and Phoenix Islands of Kiribati, 1994 had only 364 days, omitti ...

, defeating incumbent Democratic state delegate and House majority leader Kenneth Masters in the general election. He was re-elected in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...

and decided against running for re-election to a third term after being redistricted into a majority-Black district. While a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, he was a member of the Judiciary Committee and the civil law and procedure subcommittee. He served as Deputy Minority Whip from 2002 until 2003. He also sponsored legislation to legalize

medical marijuana Medical cannabis, medicinal cannabis or medical marijuana (MMJ) refers to Cannabis (drug), cannabis products and cannabinoid, cannabinoid molecules that are prescription drug, prescribed by physicians for their patients. The use of cannabi ...

. As of 2024, Murphy has been a delegate to every

Republican National Convention The Republican National Convention (RNC) is a series of presidential nominating conventions held every four years since 1856 by the Republican Party in the United States. They are administered by the Republican National Committee. The goal o ...

since

2000 2000 was designated as the International Year for the Culture of Peace and the World Mathematics, Mathematical Year. Popular culture holds the year 2000 as the first year of the 21st century and the 3rd millennium, because of a tende ...

. After leaving the legislature, Murphy served as the chair of the Baltimore County Republican Central Committee from 2002 to 2003, resigning to start a lobbying firm, Genn & Murphy, with former Democratic state delegate Gilbert J. Genn. Afterwards, Murphy worked as a Republican strategist, serving in 2010 as advisor to unsuccessful U.S. Senate candidate Eric Wargotz. As of April 2015, Murphy works as a federal policies analyst for the

Marijuana Policy Project The Marijuana Policy Project (MPP) is the largest organization working solely on marijuana policy reform in the United States in terms of its budget, number of members, and staff. Its stated aims are to: (1) increase public support for non-pu ...

Personal life

Murphy is married to his wife, Gloria, who was a delegate to the

2004 Republican National Convention The 2004 Republican National Convention took place from August 30 to September 2, 2004, at Madison Square Garden in New York City, New York. The convention is one of a series of Republican National Convention, historic quadrennial meetings at w ...

. Together, they have a son and a daughter.

Electoral history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Donald E. 1960 births Living people 20th-century members of the Maryland General Assembly 21st-century members of the Maryland General Assembly Politicians from Baltimore County, Maryland People from Linthicum, Maryland Republican Party members of the Maryland House of Delegates University of Baltimore alumni