skip to main content

 
Sen. Christopher Murphy

Senator for Connecticut

pronounced KRISS-tuh-fer // MER-fee

(About Ads | Hide These Ads)

Murphy is the junior senator from Connecticut and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 3, 2013. Murphy is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025.

He was previously the representative for Connecticut’s 5th congressional district as a Democrat from 2007 to 2012.

Murphy has cosponsored 1 bills introduced in the current Congress by Republican legislators who fomented the terrorist attack on the Capitol on January 6, 2021 by calling for entire states to be disenfranchised in the 2020 presidential election.
Photo of Sen. Christopher Murphy [D-CT]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2020 Report Card for Murphy.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Murphy is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Murphy has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Jun 22, 2021. See full analysis methodology.

Ratings from Advocacy Organizations

Human Rights Campaign: 100% Planned Parenthood Action Fund: 100% League of Conservation Voters: 97% American Civil Liberties Union: 92% The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws: B United States Chamber of Commerce: 50% The Club for Growth: 5%

Committee Membership

Christopher Murphy sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Murphy was the primary sponsor of 7 bills that were enacted:

View All »

Does 7 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Murphy sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Education (21%) International Affairs (20%) Health (20%) Immigration (9%) Finance and Financial Sector (9%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (7%) Government Operations and Politics (7%) Social Welfare (7%)

Recent Bills

Some of Murphy’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Murphy voted Yea

Murphy voted No

Murphy voted Aye

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.
The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack ...

Murphy voted Nay

Murphy voted No

Passed 386/41 on Jul 8, 2009.
The Don't Ask, Don't Tell Repeal Act of 2010 (H.R. 2965, S. 4023) is a landmark United States federal statute enacted in December 2010 that ...

Murphy voted Nay

Passed 240/179 on Jun 3, 2009.

Missed Votes

From Jan 2013 to Jun 2021, Murphy missed 14 of 2,726 roll call votes, which is 0.5%. This is better than the median of 1.6% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: