When singer Justin Bieber said in an interview with Rolling Stone that he admired the health care system in his native Canada, Murphy sent a tweet to The Huffington Post expressing approval of Bieber's comments. Shortly thereafter Murphy noticed that Bieber, in the same interview, spoke out against the practice of abortion, so Murphy sent out another tweet to distance himself from Bieber on that issue.
Murphy sponsored a bill that would subject Supreme Court Justices to the same ethical code that applies to other federal judges, and suggested in 2011 the possibility of an investigation to decide whether Justice Clarence Thomas had committed ethical violations that would justify removing him from office.
As early as March 1999, he criticized U.S. Congresswoman Nancy Johnson's vote for impeaching President Bill Clinton.
In 2001, he was a co-sponsor of a bill to eliminate child poverty.
He also proposed legislation that would give free tuition to students of the state's community-technical colleges.
He proposed legislation that would ban smoking in state colleges and universities. .
He was a supporter of same-sex marriage as early as 2002.
In 2003, he joined the Clean Car Alliance and supported California-like environmental standards on auto manufacturers.
In 2004, Murphy supported a bill that would ban smoking in all restaurants and bars
Murphy has received high scores from liberal groups such as Americans for Democratic Action, NARAL Pro-Choice America, and various labor unions
Of gun control following the Newtown shooting, Murphy stated "Clearly, in my mind, there is no reason why anyone should have access to a military-style assault weapon or a magazine clip that holds 30 or 100 bullets."
Murphy has been sued for nonpayment of his mortgage and non-payment of rent, and has also failed to pay taxes when due on several occasions.
In 2007, Chase Home Finance sued for foreclosure against Murphy, whose campaign initially responded by claiming that Murphy had missed "a couple of mortgage payments." Murphy claimed that he did not know he was in default until legal proceedings started. Murphy received a loan at the rate of 4.99% from Webster Bank in 2008 to consolidate his previous mortgages after being sued for foreclosure.
At the time of this loan, Murphy was serving on the House Financial Services Committee. In 2008, Webster Bank's political action committee made numerous donations to Murphy's campaign and in 2005 and 2006, Murphy worked for Webster as an attorney.
In 2008, Murphy voted for the Troubled Asset Relief Program which Webster received $400 million in 2009. Murphy's 2012 Republican opponent Linda McMahon accused him of receiving what she called "special interest loans," and called on Murphy to release his financial records. Bank officials and outside experts claim there was nothing improper about the loans made to Murphy.