Representative Stephanie Murphy (D., Fla.) accused party leadership of acting against the concerns and interests of moderate Democrats in a wide-ranging interview with Politico published on Friday.
Murphy, 43, announced in December that she will not run for a third term in Congress. Murphy is the first Vietnamese-American woman ever elected to Congress and is a co-chair of the centrist Blue Dog Coalition.
Murphy told Politico’s Playbook Deep Dive that Democratic leadership attempted to “beat moderates into submission” during negotiations over the Biden administration’s legislative agenda.
Moderate Democrats pushed back on party leadership’s attempts to pass a $1.8 trillion social spending bill connected to the $1 trillion infrastructure bill. While both eventually passed the House separately, the social spending bill has since stalled after Senator Joe Manchin (D., W. Va.) announced his opposition to the initiative in December.
“I felt from the start that was a failed strategy,” Murphy said of attempts to connect the infrastructure bill and social spending package. “I also felt like you can’t promise rainbows and unicorns when you know that you don’t have the votes for it.”
Murphy also claimed that with Democrats in the majority, the party had less “tolerance” for members to vote in such a way that they could hold on to moderate districts.
“It’s unfortunate because I think in order for us as Democrats to hold the majority, you have to be able to win in seats like mine and in redder seats. “That means you have to cut your members a little bit of leeway to vote their district,” Murphy said. “This march toward party unity is going to be detrimental to our ability to lead the agenda for this country.”
Ahead of the 2022 midterms, 31 House Democrats have announced plans to retire. Republicans are hoping to retake the majority in the House after a series of high-profile elections that saw Glenn Youngkin win the Virginia gubernatorial race.