The youngest son of longtime Lowell teachers Joan and Dan Murphy, Patrick was born eight minutes behind his twin brother Daniel and four years after his sister Gráinne.

Like his brother and sister, Patrick graduated from Phillips Academy in Andover on a four-year scholarship, and has continued his education at Tufts University.

[1] On June 2, 2007, Murphy announced he was running as an independent in the special election to fill the seat formerly held by Marty Meehan, who resigned to take the position of Chancellor at UMass Lowell.

[2] On October 16, 2007, Murphy placed third out of five candidates, receiving 2,170 votes or 2.05%, finishing behind the major party nominees, Democrat Niki Tsongas and Republican Jim Ogonowski.

On May 25, 2010, Governor Deval Patrick announced that Lowell would become one of the state's 35 "Green Communities", which made the city eligible for clean-energy grants and additional federal funds.