John Murtha - Political Career

Political Career

Soon after returning from Vietnam, Murtha won the Democratic nomination for what was then the 22nd District, which was based in Johnstown. He lost fairly handily to longtime Republican incumbent John Saylor.

Murtha was elected to represent the 72nd legislative district in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives in a special election on May 20, 1969. The election was triggered by the death of Representative Edward McNally, who died in November 1968. He was elected to a full term in 1970.

Congressman Saylor died in October 1973, nine months into his 13th term. Murtha immediately jumped into the special election contest in what was now the 12th District. In the February 1974 special election, Murtha defeated one of Saylor's former aides, Harry Fox, by only 242 votes. He defeated Fox by a significantly wider margin that November and was reelected 17 times.

Murtha faced tough primary challenges in 1982, 1990 and again in 2002. The 1982 challenge occurred when the Republican-controlled state legislature took advantage of Murtha's connection to Abscam, and incorporated most of the district of fellow Democrat and Vietnam War veteran Don Bailey of Westmoreland County into the 12th District.

The 2002 challenge occurred when the state legislature redrew the district of fellow Democrat Frank Mascara to make it more Republican-friendly, shifting a large chunk of Mascara's former territory into Murtha's district. Mascara opted to run against Murtha in the Democratic primary, since the new 12th contained more of Mascara's old territory than Murtha's. However, Mascara was badly defeated.

In 2006, Murtha's Republican challenger was Diana Irey, a county commissioner from Washington County, the heart of Mascara's former district. Irey attacked Murtha for his criticism of the Iraq war. Even though Irey was Murtha's strongest Republican opponent in decades, she polled well behind Murtha throughout the campaign. An October 12, 2006 poll by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review showed Murtha with a commanding lead over Irey, 57%–30%. In the November election, Murtha won 61%–39%.

On June 9, 2006, Murtha informed Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi that he would run for Majority Leader if the Democrats gained control of the House in the 2006 midterm elections. Despite Murtha receiving Pelosi's support, current Democratic Whip Steny Hoyer was elected to the post.

On March 18, 2008, Murtha endorsed Hillary Rodham Clinton, former First Lady and then Senator from New York, in her bid for the presidency.

On February 6, 2010, two days before his death, Murtha became the longest serving Pennsylvania congressman in history. Although he was not sworn into office until February 20, 1974, House of Representatives rules state that Murtha’s service officially began at his election because the seat was vacant.

In 2009, Murtha heard details from Fort Benning U.S. Army Soldiers on how their current uniforms and equipment were not providing camouflage in Iraq and Afghanistan during a personal visit. Murtha immediately took action and convinced the Army to fix the camouflage problem resulting in MultiCam being selected by the Secretary of the Army John McHugh for all incoming Soldiers deploying to Afghanistan in 2010, only weeks after Murtha had died.