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About Chris
Chris Murphy is a Democrat representing Connecticut’s 5th Congressional District in the United States House of Representatives. The 5th district stretches from just west of Hartford to the New York border, containing the towns of Waterbury, Danbury, New Britain, and Meriden, as well as the vast majority of Litchfield County.
Chris was first elected to Congress in 2006 by defeating 24-year-incumbent Nancy Johnson. Chris earned 56% of the vote by running a positive, grassroots campaign that took him to each of the district’s 41 towns. Since his election to Congress, Chris has maintained a constant presence throughout the district when he’s not representing Connecticut in Washington. Chris’s attentiveness to his constituents is well known – an article in a Capitol Hill newspaper, Roll Call, said that Chris is “considered ‘omnipresent’ back home.”
In the House of Representatives, Chris serves on the Energy & Commerce Committee and the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform. These committee assignments have allowed Chris to establish himself as a leading voice in the debates about many of the important issues facing this country.
Since joining the Energy & Commerce Committee in 2009, Chris has had a key role in shaping new policies concerning health care, consumer safety, and growing Connecticut’s clean energy sector. He serves on the Health and Telecommunications subcommittees. Chris’ seat on the Health subcommittee allowed him to play a key role in crafting health care reform legislation and extending the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) to millions of children nationwide.
On the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Chris has led the fight to strengthen our Buy American rules in government contracting. By giving domestic companies the ability to provide a “jobs impact statement,” federal bureaucrats responsible for awarding federal contracts for goods and services will be able to see fully how their decision will affect our national economic recovery. Under current practices, loopholes in federal Buy American laws intended to steer federal purchasing towards U.S. companies have allowed too many tax dollars to be spent on goods from foreign companies, even when those same products are made within our borders.
Chris has led the fight to clean up government corruption and restore ethics to Washington. Chris has been a tireless advocate for instituting an independent, citizens’ ethics panel to monitor and investigate alleged transgressions by members of Congress. In May of 2007, Chris organized 21 freshman members to voice their support for this effort, despite tremendous resistance from the powerful Washington establishment. Chris has also sought to curtail the secrecy surrounding private government contractors, proposing and passing legislation that would require these entities to reveal to Congress executive salaries.
Chris has pursued his commitment to environmentalism by becoming Co-Chairman of the Congressional Land Conservation Caucus. This influential position has allowed Chris to advocate on behalf of and acquire funding for natural treasures in the 5th district, such as Skiff Mountain in Kent. Chris was also instrumental in passing legislation that gives federal designation and more protections to the Farmington Valley’s Metacomet trail.
Before his election to Congress, Chris served in the Connecticut General Assembly from 1998 to 2006. Chris represented Southington in the Connecticut House of Representatives for 4 years, and then became State Senator for Connecticut’s 16th district—Waterbury, Wolcott, Southington, and Cheshire—until his election to the U.S. House of Representatives.
As the Senate Chair of the legislature’s Public Health Committee, Chris was the General Assembly’s acknowledges leader on health care issues. As Chairman, he steered the passage of an impressive array of landmark bills advancing public health, including the state’s workplace smoking ban. Chris also authored legislation that prohibits hospitals from engaging in overly aggressive collection practices against uninsured patients. Additionally, he authored bills that expand low-cost prescription drug access for the uninsured, establish new government powers to be utilized during a bioterrorism attack, and increase whistleblower protections for hospital employees.
In 2004, Chris introduced legislation that would provide vital funding for stem cell research in Connecticut. Chris’s work that year helped to lay the groundwork for a future victory on this important issue, and in 2005, Chris succeeded in passing Connecticut’s landmark Stem cell Investment Act.
When home in the district, Chris travels all across the area to hear the concerns of constituents from around the district. He knocks on doors in each of the 5th District’s forty one towns, informing residents of his efforts to keep good, middle class jobs in Connecticut, as well as ways to improve our health care and education systems.
Chris grew up in Connecticut, and attended Williams College in Massachusetts, graduating with honors and a double major in history and political science. In 2002, he graduated from the University of Connecticut School of Law in Hartford, Connecticut. Chris resides in Cheshire with his wife Catherine Holahan, a New Britain based legal aid attorney and their son Owen.
