Gay Republican campaigns for seat on NY City Council

From the New York Times

A City Council Candidate in Manhattan Is Reaching for Bloomberg’s Coattails
By JONATHAN P. HICKS
Published: October 29, 2005

While campaigning in front of a supermarket this week, Patrick M. Murphy, a Republican seeking a Council seat on the East Side of Manhattan, repeatedly introduced himself to voters and told them, “I’m running with Mike Bloomberg.”

In fact, when passers-by would ask his party affiliation, he would consistently respond, “I’m a Bloomberg Republican.”

In a district that once reliably sent Republicans to City Hall, Mr. Murphy, is hoping that the mayor’s popularity will help him become the first Republican council member from the district since 1999, when Andrew S. Eristoff quit the Council to become commissioner of finance to Mr. Bloomberg’s predecessor, Rudolph W. Giuliani.

The Democratic candidate is Daniel R. Garodnick, a lawyer with the firm of Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison who has been active in civic and community affairs. The winner will succeed Eva S. Moskowitz, who ran unsuccessfully this year for the Democratic nomination for Manhattan borough president.

Mr. Murphy, 38, a former executive with a direct marketing company, has been especially active as a leader in New York Log Cabin Republicans, a gay rights group. He led a rally during the Republican National Convention a year ago to “send the message that our party needs to be more open and inclusive,” he said.

He portrays himself as a liberal on social issues but also as someone who is a “fiscally responsible” candidate.

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