Mayor won’t seek a second term
Murphy offered new job, plans to run for Valpo City Council
Valparaiso Mayor Matt Murphy announced Wednesday that he will not seek a second term as mayor next year because of a new job opportunity with Urschel Laboratories, but he does plan on running for City Council.
“Coming to this decision was very difficult for me, my wife, Polly, and my family,” Murphy said in his announcement.
“I have thoroughly enjoyed serving as the 27th mayor of Valparaiso.”
Murphy said he will finish out his term through the end of next year.
His family’s small business, Jifco Products in Valparaiso, was acquired by Urschel in early 2022, he said, adding that he “was offered a professional opportunity that will require my daily presence and 100% of my time at Urschel headquarters in Chesterton.”
Murphy, 49, previously represented District 3 on the City Council and was elected as mayor after former Mayor Jon Costas, also a Republican, chose not to seek a fifth term in office. The District 3 seat on the council is now held by Republican Casey Schmidt, who is the council president.
Murphy served one year on the council before he ran for mayor and previously served as the city’s economic development director, among other roles in the city.
The Republican Party will present a full slate of candidates for next year’s municipal elections throughout the county, said Porter County Republican Party Chair Michael Simpson, adding that specifically for Valparaiso, additional announcements concerning the mayor’s race will be made on Dec. 8.
Michael Mirochna, chair of the Valparaiso Democratic Committee, said the committee is holding a candidate night on Dec. 5 to
discuss next year’s election and he is talking with several people about different positions they might run for.
“Valparaiso is a good town, but it can be a great town if we welcome everybody and do things slightly differently,” Mirochna said.
He was critical of Murphy’s job so far as mayor, including the city taking on The Linc apartment complex and adjacent parking facility, which forced out several small businesses.
“If you thought you were doing a good job, you’d run because incumbents win,” he said.
When he started serving as mayor and creating and implementing a strategic plan, Murphy said in his announcement, he thought he would seek at least one more term to accomplish some of the goals set by the city’s leadership team and the collective community. That was before he received the job offer from Urschel.
“I will miss serving as mayor along an extraordinary group of men and women who made this ride so fun and enjoyable,” he said.
“And what a ride it’s been. We have the best employees and leadership team around and it shows in everything we’ve been able to accomplish.”
Murphy said that after the recent general election and before the new year was the appropriate time to announce his decision.
“I want to be abundantly clear: My focus hasn’t changed now that I’ve made this announcement — we will continue full speed ahead to move our city forward in the new year as we have major projects happening all over Valparaiso.”