“I’ll be surprised if that makes it through the state legislature and the governor’s desk,” Murphy says.

“But the fact that that legislation has received so much attention says a lot.”

The candidate mentions, for example, taxing the University using a formula based on Harvard’s payroll, an idea which has been kicking around the family for a while.

“I suggested to the Harvard Corporation at the time I was there that [tension between the city and the University] could be alleviated by the discussion of a more permanent formula that relates to the size of Harvard workforce and activity,” Champion says.

Like ideas about dealing with Harvard, politics runs in the family—Murphy’s wife, Kate Champion-Murphy, is a political consultant and fundraiser.

“We actually met running slates of delegates against each other in 1992,” Murphy says. “So for a long time she hated me.”

But eventually, they worked on the same campaign, and came to be friends.

“My mother-in-law had a great line: ‘Well, Kate always had strong feelings about you,’” Murphy says.

Murphy began working on political campaigns as a junior at the College, and recounts working 40-hour weeks—during the academic year.

“Thank God for reading period,” Murphy says.

On the Issues

On Cambridge’s perennial issue of creating enough affordable housing, Murphy is adamant that more should be done.

“The challenge is to try to make sure you keep what’s special about Cambridge—one of the things that’s special about this city is its diversity,” says Murphy. “Frankly, we need to do more, I think, from our community standpoint.”