republican House hope Lee Murphy held the presidency Joe Biden‘s ticket when the then-senator traveled to Washington by Amtrak train – he now hopes to bring the president’s native US ally to DelawareThe race for Congress.
Murphy is once again challenging Democratic MP Lisa Blunt Rochester for the seat of the Delaware Grand Chamber.
And while Biden’s name at the top of the ticket overshadows Murphy’s chances in 2020, he hopes this year’s race will be a referendum for his home state president.
“Delaware is a small state and I worked for 35 years on the railroad, particularly with Amtrak as a locomotive engineer and conductor,” Murphy told DailyMail.com at this week’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando.
“I’ve taken his ticket many times,” Murphy told Biden, who famously traveled between Wilmington and Washington by train, earning him the nickname “Amtrak Joe.”
Republican House Hope Lee Murphy took President Joe Biden’s ticket when the then-senator traveled to Washington by Amtrak train – now he hopes to destroy the president’s native US ally in the race for the Delaware Congress
Lee Murphy (left) poses with a fellow Amtrak employee. Murphy spent 35 years working for the railroad as a conductor and engineer – and often collected tickets for President Joe Biden
GOP House Hope Lee Murphy (right) poses with Texas Republican Sen. Ted Cruz (left) at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Orlando, Florida this week.
The two knew each other from the train – and from political circles.
“We had a lot of conversations,” Murphy said. “And Joe was hugging me with his hand – getting off the train – ‘Hey, Lee, you can’t win in this state, you have to be a Democrat, come to me,'” he recalled Biden would say.
Murphy lost his House race in 2020 to Blunt Rochester by about 17 points. The state has Democratic Party Governor John Carney and Democratic Meaning. Chris Koons and Tom Carper.
The last Republican senator from Delaware lost his re-election in 2000. And the last member of the Republican House of Representatives, Mike Castle, retired in 2011 and then unsuccessfully ran for the US Senate.
Photo of Lee Murphy in his Amtrak uniform. Murphy retired from Amtrak in 2011
“He’ll see me everywhere and say, ‘This guy isn’t going to be a Democrat, you know, Lee Murphy, he’d be a good candidate as a Democrat,'” Murphy told Biden. “But no, there’s no way that’s going to happen.”
Murphy has always been a Republican. He said that in all the years Biden had been on the ballot, Murphy had never voted for the man who was often his passenger.
“And you know, it’s hard to believe that this man I’ve known for so many years is actually the president of the United States,” Murphy said.
“I mean, it’s kind of funny,” he continued. “I thought it was funny when he was vice president.”
Murphy said he was motivated to run because of the opioid crisis, complained that schools were not up to par in Delaware and said the economy was “flat”.
As a former Amtrak employee – Murphy retired as an engineer and conductor in 2011 – the GOP candidate supports investment in rail transport.
He lives outside Wilmington, the center of Amtrak’s Northeast Regional Railroad.
“He never did anything for Delaware all the time he was a senator and was a senator in Delaware for 36 years, and Republicans never challenged him, never challenged him in the election, which was unfortunate,” Murphy told Biden.
He puts Blunt Rochester in the same category.
“We have a liberal congresswoman. Who made zero for Delaware, “he said.
“She is also in office and not campaigning. She is right. She is playing the card of identity politics and feels that she will not be defeated. And he supports Joe Biden, he supports Nancy Pelosi, and he actually helped elect Kamala Harris as vice president, “he added.
Blunt Rochester was part of a four-member Democrat-nominated Biden commission tasked with finding him a candidate for 2020.
“It’s not effective,” he continued.
But Biden’s ghost hopes to stay at the top of the ticket.
“This is a big referendum on probably the worst president we’ve had, at least in my life,” he said, adding that if a Republican overthrows Blunt Rochester, “it will be known everywhere.”
Murphy travels to the Orlando conference in hopes of gaining media approval, raising funds for the campaign – and, if he’s really lucky, winning the approval of former President Donald Trump.
Lee Murphy (right) also works as an actor and even plays Secretary of Defense in the second season of House of Cards (pictured).
Trump has time to speak in prime time on Saturday night.
“I would like to get the approval of the president, President Trump – not Joe Biden – although Joe Biden would say I’m a good person,” Murphy said. “But I don’t even want that.”
The CPAC, which kicked off on Thursday, has sparked a number of political hopes from Republicans, hoping to attract the attention of the former president.
Like Trump, Murphy remains skeptical of the 2020 election.
The State Republican Party appealed to the court in August 2020 in an attempt to block the state from sending ballots by mail to every registered voter, but in September a judge denied the move, allowing ballots to be sent by mail.
“And we got a phone call after a phone call after a phone call for dead people receiving ballots,” Murphy said.
“So were these elections legitimate?” No, it was not legal. No one can say that, “he continued. “Fortunately, we will not have any newsletters in the mail in Delaware this year. Republicans in the state legislature have assured me that they will not vote for it.
There is no evidence of widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 election, as Trump continues.
Cook’s political report gave the Blunt Rochester area a plus six Democratic advantage, meaning Murphy has a climb, but not an insurmountable climb.
If that doesn’t work, Murphy has also been working as an actor for years.
And he even tasted Washington before – playing the Secretary of Defense in the House of Cards in the second season of the hit political show.