Former Rep. Tim Murphy, the Republican Congressman from the suburbs of Pittsburgh who served in the U.S. House of Representatives from 2003 to 2017, died unexpectedly this week of a heart attack at age 73. I’m shocked and saddened by the news and the loss. Murphy contributed some valuable articles to this publication in recent years, and he lived quite a (turbulent) life.
Murphy was born in Cleveland, one of 11 children. He attended St. Barnabas Catholic School and Walsh Jesuit High School before heading to West Virginia to attend Wheeling Jesuit College. He went on to grad school at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a doctorate in psychology. He became a practicing psychologist and assistant professor at Pitt. He served on the staff of Pittsburgh’s Children’s Hospital and Mercy Hospital and launched his own private practice.
Murphy decided to enter politics. He was elected to the Pennsylvania State Senate before setting his sights on the U.S. Congress, where he had an impressive career. He was elected in 2002 to his first of seven consecutive terms. During that time, from 2009-17, Murphy also served as a commander in the U.S. Navy Reserve Medical Service Corps. As one of the few legislators who had a career in healthcare, he was a rare, crucial voice of experience, unlike the liberal politicians who set out to “reform” a healthcare system they never actually worked in. Murphy had real-world training and genuinely knew something about what his colleagues wanted to fix. He was an expert in the field, of which there are not many among Congress’s legion of lawyers and former Poli Sci majors. Murphy also became a stalwart pro-lifer, a champion of healthcare for the unborn as well as the born.
And yet, sadly, Tim Murphy’s world came crashing down in a scandal created by his choice of an extramarital affair with one of his aides. News of the affair got uglier when it was reported that he had advised the 32-year-old divorced woman to have an abortion if she was pregnant. Text messages of their exchanges were published by the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette and were damning and deeply embarrassing. Murphy admitted to some details and insinuations, but not all. He lost many friends and had few supporters. The disgraced Hon. Tim Murphy resigned from Congress in dishonor in October 2017.
What happened wrecked Murphy’s professional career and personal life. He spent the remainder of his years coping and trying to make reparation for his sins. He would lean on his Catholic faith in a way he never had before. He went through something that he himself was an expert on for others, namely: post-traumatic stress disorder. Murphy had seen PTSD from a military perspective as a psychologist for the Navy. He would end up writing a book on PTSD that was in part a memoir of his own struggles.
It was that endeavor that brought Murphy into contact with me. Back in October 2021, a mutual friend put us in touch because Murphy was looking for a publisher and advice on his book manuscript. He sent it to me to look over. I liked what I saw, but I told him that he needed to start the book by dealing head-on with the scandal that damaged him. Many people were unforgiving, even as he had sought reconciliation. He needed to be candid. He humbly thanked me and proceeded to do so, creating a much stronger book. I was struck by how literally prayerful he was and how he conversed openly and naturally about confession and redemption. He was clearly a changed man, deeply affected by what had happened. He said explicitly to me that he felt called by God to write the book.
I put Murphy in touch with the good folks at Humanix Books. They appreciated his story and manuscript. They published it in April 2023 under the aptly titled The Christ Cure: 10 Biblical Ways to Heal from Trauma, Tragedy and PTSD. Humanix was created by Chris Ruddy of Newsmax, and Tim in turn became a frequent contributor to Newsmax, speaking out on issues of mental health.
Tim proceeded to do likewise at The American Spectator. He was on the cutting edge of the latest research. He would come to us eagerly with articles on the newest study in clinical psychology or some issue of high interest in mental health. These articles were high-quality work by the ex-congressman. We published several from August 2023 to May 2026. The subjects ranged from gender dysphoria among kids to depression, schizophrenia, legalizing marijuana, suicide among veterans (a special concern of Murphy), the Trump shooter Matthew Thomas Crooks (who I believe lived in Murphy’s former congressional district, or at least near it), to his push to “Make America Mentally Healthy (Again).” (Click here for Murphy’s article archive.) (RELATED: Voters Sound Alarm on Mental Health System Failure in New National Poll)
Tim was always super excited about these articles. He liked to call to talk about them, or text. He was eager to get fresh, timely content posted. He would frequently urge quick posting before the coming release of some new poll, study, or journal article.
To be sure, it was always a delicate matter publishing Murphy because of the past that haunted him. When I explained his scandal to various folks, many were understandably unforgiving, especially women. I recall talking to him at length during a long family drive to Toronto. When the call ended, my wife asked me what had happened that had caused Murphy to resign. She got quite angry and didn’t want to talk about it anymore. Any wife would be rightly very upset.
Of course, so was — above all — Tim Murphy’s wife. Nonetheless, she stuck with him. In a text message last August, Tim glowed that it was the 50th anniversary of him and his wife. “We are survivors,” he told me. They remained married, but it wasn’t easy for her. What happened to her husband this week especially isn’t easy.
Still, no man should have the entirety of his life, career, and work destroyed with no chance for retribution over a mistake he regretted, repented for, and then spent years trying to make amends. Tim Murphy honorably sought to do just that.
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