His electoral success was often attributed to the fact that his name was identical to that of the Supreme Court justice, former governor, and mayor of Detroit, to whom he was not related.

By January 2, 1941, the Republican majority state senate took the power to appoint committees in the state senate away from Lieutenant Governor Murphy, and took on the power themselves.

[3][6] In 1942, Murphy failed to gain re-election as lieutenant governor.

[8] In June 1944, Murphy pleaded guilty before Circuit Judge Leland Carr to accepting a $2,500 bribe from two distilleries in exchange for using his influence as lieutenant governor to promote Senate Bill 203 in 1941 which lowered the distilling license fee from $5,000 to $1,000.

[7] On December 25, 1944, in Harper Hospital, Murphy died due to pneumonia which was complicated by heart problems that he had been suffering from for several months.