John W. Murphy

The son of an Irish immigrant won a local election in a Boston suburb 121 years ago that would eventually impact New Jersey’s political landscape today. After William J. Doherty decided not to seek re-election in 1910, Democrats held the seat when 34-year-old John W. Murphy, the grandfather of future New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy, was elected in a landslide as an Alderman in Newton, Massachusetts’s first ward.