'We have become the party of the status quo': Chris Murphy makes his case to lead Democrats forward
Sen. Chris Murphy has made a name for himself as someone willing to chase bipartisan deals on some of Washington’s thorniest issues.
Sen. Chris Murphy has made a name for himself as someone willing to chase bipartisan deals on some of Washington’s thorniest issues.
But weeks into President Donald Trump’s second administration, Murphy, D-Conn., has taken steps to put himself at the center of aggressive resistance to Trump — and to let his party’s rank and file know it. Murphy is spending heavily to advertise on social media platforms and is flooding the zone on television and podcasts, positioning himself as the tip of the spear of Democratic Party efforts to oppose Trump in Washington.
In an interview in his Capitol Hill office last week, Murphy embraced the idea that he’s on a new path after years pursuing a role as a Senate dealmaker and foreign policy expert. He argued his newfound push to oppose Trump is an imperative. And he bucked the idea that he’s essentially already mounting a shadow run for president — even as he acknowledged he’s looking to “build a movement all around this country” to mobilize against the “seizure of government by the billionaires and the destruction of our democracy.” It’s a theme he says his party needs to adopt to appeal once more to voters who decided they couldn’t back Democrats in 2024.
“This may look a little schizophrenic, having gone from spending two years writing big bipartisan deals on guns or on immigration to now being out front in trying to fight for the survival of the democracy and using really tough language about my Republican colleagues,” Murphy said, seated in the same spot where he records a majority of videos for his growing social media audience.
“When somebody is trying to grab power, when somebody is trying to destroy democracy, they benefit from people who are static, who refuse to be nimble,” he continued. “I mean, every Democrat could just continue to run in the same direction they’ve been running for the last 10 years. Or you could realize that this moment is different, that this threat is unique — and to me, you know, we don’t have another year to fight this attempt to destroy democracy. Our democracy might be gone in six months.”
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