‘I’m proud how it shapes my mind.’ Folsom man with cerebral palsy to challenge Josh Hoover

Alex Muegge
·2 min read

A Folsom resident born with cerebral palsy plans to challenge an incumbent state Assembly member and City Council member in the 2024 race for the competitive district that encompasses Sacramento County’s northeast suburbs.

Democrat Braden Murphy, 33, will take on Assemblyman Josh Hoover and Vice Mayor YK Chalamcherla for California’s 7th Assembly District, which includes Rancho Cordova, Citrus Heights and Carmichael.

Hoover defeated incumbent Democrat Ken Cooley in 2022. The Bee previously reported that the district is a moderate one and redistricting in 2020 added Folsom, leaning the area more conservative.

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Murphy ran for the Board of Equalization against Incumbent Ted Gaines in 2022 but narrowly lost in the primaries.

He said as a child with cerebral palsy, if there was a medical cost that insurance could not cover, he was lucky enough to have a father that could afford to pay it.

“I’m proud how it shapes my mind and where I am today because of my disability,” Murphy said. “I was able to live a life of dignity despite the challenge of being in a wheelchair. Today, I’m able to be a stay-at-home father, largely because of the privilege that I had.”

He said he was given basic needs like health care, housing, education and transportation through his father, not government programs. However, he said he believes that everybody should have access to basic needs and this idea made him “a progressive since I was, like, 9 years old.”

“I don’t look at my privilege and say ‘Work hard. Get ahead. How could you not?’” he said. “Because I know that if certain things go wrong in life, it’s not that easy.”

The Bee’s 2022 Voter Guide asked Hoover and Cooley three questions regarding issues in the district. They focused on homelessness, climate change and community housing.

Murphy said he believes to combat homelessness, the community needs to build public housing that the people can own as taxpayers.

“It needs to be done in a public way, in my opinion, which means using state or local dollars to build this housing,” he said. “Now, I’m not against a private developer that builds some units and four of those are cheaper than the other ones.”

Murphy’s policy position labels solar panels and electric cars as effective climate change tools and, simultaneously, disproportionately privileged items.

“We have got to make sure that the poor and middle class are reaping the benefits,” he said.

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