Vincent J. Murphy

Vincent Joseph Murphy (August 1, 1893 – June 8, 1976) was an American labor leader and Democratic Party politician from New Jersey. He was mayor of Newark, New Jersey from 1941 to 1949 and the Democratic nominee for governor of New Jersey in 1943. From 1961 until 1970, he was president of the New Jersey chapter of the AFL-CIO.

Labor organizer At the age of 15, Murphy became a plumber's apprentice and joined the Local 24 of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing, Pipefitting and Sprinkler Fitting Industry in 1913, serving as its secretary-treasurer from 1920 to 1938.

After his failed campaign for governor in 1943, Murphy was re-elected to the commission in 1945, finishing first. In the same election, Ellenstein returned to the commission as the fifth place finisher.

In the general election, Murphy faced Republican former governor and U.S. senator Walter Evans Edge. Edge, who had allied with Hague across party lines early in their careers, attacked Murphy for his association with the party boss. He emphasized his prior experience as a wartime governor three decades earlier and warned that a Democratic victory would lead to a domination of the state by "labor leaders, communists and Hagueism." Murphy was defeated by a margin of 127,000 votes, carrying only Camden, Hudson, and Middlesex counties.

Personal life and death Murphy died at his home in Spring Lake, New Jersey on June 8, 1976, aged 82. He had fourteen grandchildren.