GRAND FORKS — A Grand Forks business owner and professor at UND has declared his candidacy for the state House of Representatives.
Eric Murphy hopes to earn a House seat to represent District 43 and said his background — business and higher education — will be an asset. He is a Republican, and said the decision to run comes after discussions with Republican leaders and legislators.
"I bring a unique mix of experience in higher education and small business to the table," he said. "During my two years in service as the faculty member on the state Board of Higher Education, I gained a different perspective and understanding of our unique higher education system in North Dakota. I understand the role of this system to diversify our state's economy, which I am doing, but also the need to have quality job opportunities for all of our citizens, which I am doing."
Murphy is CEO/CSO of Krampade, LLC, a Grand Forks-based company that manufactures potassium-enriched drink powders. He serves as senior vice president of research and development for Agragen, LLC, a Cincinnati-based plant sciences company with operations mainly in Helsinki, Finland. He is chairman of the board for Agragen, Oy, Agragen’s subsidiary in Helsinki and also is an associate professor at the University of North Dakota.
He graduated from Hastings (Neb.) College with majors in history and biology and then completed his Ph.D. in biochemistry at The Ohio State University in Columbus, Ohio. After a short stint in the pharmaceutical industry, he served as an assistant research professor at Texas A&M University and went on to the National Institute on Aging, where he held a prestigious National Research Council Senior Fellowship.
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Murphy said the public sees a broken political system, in which politicians do not embrace other ideas in meaningful ways. It inhibits progress, he said.
His campaign will focus on being fiscally conservative, while remembering that the role of government is to help the state's residents.
“We need to continue to keep our roads the best in the nation, as this infrastructure is critically important to our energy and agricultural economies," he said. "We need to continue to diversify our economy, with an emphasis on business in biosciences, agriculture, energy production, aviation as well as manufacturing. We need to provide excellent jobs across the employment spectrum. This includes workforce development through educational opportunities at all levels."
