Murphy not running for re-election to Texas House
State Rep. Jim Murphy, a Republican from west Houston, announced this week he is not seeking reelection to the Texas House.
Murphy, the chair of the House Republican Caucus and House Higher Education Committee, is serving his seventh term in the Legislature. He has represented House District 133, which takes in the Energy Corridor and other parts of west Houston, from 2007 to 2009 and again since 2011.
In June, Murphy had announced he would seek another term once his current one ends in January 2023. He did not say why he reversed course.
“It has been an honor and privilege to serve the great people of District 133 and the State of Texas these past seven terms,” Murphy said in a statement. “I’m not going away anytime soon; I’m just looking forward to life’s next great opportunity.”
Murphy, long involved with west Houston business development, served for more than 20 years as the founding president of the Westchase District, a 4.2-square-mile municipal management district that collects taxes from commercial property owners to fund improvements and services.
A former school teacher, Murphy also was a trustee on the Houston Community College Board from 1997 to 2006. He joined the Legislature in 2007 after defeating one of his current Republican colleagues, Mike Schofield, in a runoff for an open seat.
After narrowly losing the seat in 2008 during a wave year for Texas Democrats, Murphy won it back in 2010 and has retained it ever since.
Murphy’s announcement comes with the Legislature on the verge of redrawing the state’s political maps, including the boundaries of all 150 Texas House districts. The process, known as redistricting, has prompted a rash of retirement announcements from Republicans, giving their party more flexibility to reshape their districts as they aim to retain the GOP majority in Austin.
Murphy, however, is the first lawmaker from Houston to announce he is opting against re-election. Many of the other retiring lawmakers represent districts in rural areas of the state that are at risk of losing seats because they have not kept up with Texas’ overall population growth — unlike Murphy’s west Houston district.
Long considered one of the more moderate Republicans in the House, Murphy in recent years has drawn the ire of hard-line conservative activists, who point to his low rating on a handful of conservativerun websites that track lawmakers’ votes and assign them a score.
Republican lawmakers heaped praise on Murphy after he announced his decision on Thursday, however — among them former House Speaker Dennis Bonnen, who supported Murphy in his bid for House GOP caucus chair.
“You were never afraid to speak the truth even if the truth wasn’t popular or advantageous,” Bonnen tweeted at Murphy. “I will always be grateful for your integrity, loyalty, and friendship during our service together in the (Legislature).”
In 2017, Murphy was appointed chair of the House committee that oversees special purpose districts, a move that raised eyebrows, given his ties to the Westchase District. Though Murphy relinquished his position as president of the special purpose district upon winning election to the House in 2006, he continued to consult for the district through a newly formed company, serving as its general manager.
The district paid Murphy’s company, which incurred some business expenses but had no other employees, more than $900,000 over a three-year period, the Houston Chronicle reported in 2017. At the time, Murphy defended his dual work as a legislator and consultant for the district, which partially overlaps with his own seat.
“I think that my experience or expertise is a tremendous value-add to the committee’s work and to the state of Texas,” he said. “I have a reputation for fairness on all kinds of complicated legislation. We are going to listen to both sides.”