Incumbent Frank Lucas Children 3 Parents William Henry Murray Citizenship United States Residence Moore, Oklahoma Party Republican Party | Nationality American Name Timothy Murray Opponents Frank Lucas Political party Republican Role Politician | |
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Born October 13, 1966 (age 57)
Oklahoma City, Oklahoma ( 1966-10-13 ) Alma mater Oklahoma State University–Stillwater | ||
Timothy ray murray
Timothy Ray Murray (born October 13, 1966) is an Oklahoman politician known for challenging U.S. Representative Frank Lucas (R-Okla.) representing Oklahoma's 3rd congressional district in both 2012 and 2014.
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Murray was formerly a registered Democrat and ran for the 3rd congressional district seat as such in 2012. In 2014, Murray switched parties to challenge Lucas as a Republican.
2012 campaign
In 2012, Murray ran as a Democrat for the district 3 seat. Murray only raised $508 for his campaign war chest to oust incumbent Lucas. Despite the lack of funding, he received the Democratic nomination in the June 2012 primary, beating Democrat hopeful Frankie Robbins with 52% of the vote. The Independent ticket was represented by William M. Sanders of Stillwater, Oklahoma.
In the popular election, Sanders gained 4.8% of the vote with 12,787 votes, Murray gained 20% of the vote with 53,472 votes, and incumbent Lucas gained 75.3% of the vote with 201,744 votes, taking the seat.
2014 campaign
After firmly losing the 2012 election to Lucas while running as a Democrat, Murray switched parties and ran as a Republican to take Lucas' seat in 2014.
In the 2014 Republican primaries for the 3rd district, Murray received 5.2% of the votes (with 3,442 in his favor) with Lucas gaining 82% of the votes. Murray vowed to contest the election, accusing Lucas of being replaced by a robot when the real Lucas had actually been killed. Murray missed the April 15 deadline, however, meaning Lucas kept the Republican primary nomination.
Accusations
Murray received national attention when he accused Lucas of actually being a body double rather than the actual Lucas. Murray stated on his campaign website that "It is widely known Rep. Frank D. Lucas is no longer alive and has been displayed by a look alike. Rep. Lucas’ look alike was depicted as sentenced on a white stage in southern Ukraine on or about Jan. 11, 2011." Besides claiming that Lucas was a "robot" and/or "an automaton", Murray also posited that other members of Congress were replaced by lookalikes as well.
In response, Lucas stated "Many things have been said about me, said to me during the course of my campaigns. This is the first time I’ve ever been accused of being a body double or a robot."
Personal life
According to his 2014 campaign website, Murray is the son of William Henry Murray and the grandson of Bose Murray.
Murray graduated from Moore High School in Moore, Oklahoma. He then received an Associates degree in electronics engineering technology from Oklahoma State University in 1994. He still lives in Moore and has three children.