APR recently spoke with Morgan Murphy, the former national security adviser to U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville, R-Alabama, now running to succeed Tuberville in the Senate. APR asked Murphy about his policy platform, where he stands on prominent national issues, and his controversial involvement in Tuberville’s blockade of over 400 military promotions in 2023.
Our discussion began on the topic of abortion, a key issue at the center of Tuberville’s promotion blockade which began in protest of a Pentagon abortion travel policy. According to reporting by the Washington Post, Murphy himself became staunchly pro-life after dealing with his own struggles to conceive a child with his now ex-wife in 2010. APR asked the senate hopeful where he stands on the issue of abortion today.
“I am strongly pro-life. It’s a states issue. That’s a settled matter from the Supreme Court,” Murphy replied.
As for whether he would support a nationwide abortion ban if elected Alabama’s next senator, Murphy refused to provide a definitive answer.
“I’m not gonna give a hypothetical answer to a piece of legislation I haven’t looked at,” he stated.
APR then asked Murphy about in-vitro fertilization, or IVF, an issue which has grown out of the abortion debate as some pro-life advocates began calling for restrictions on the procedure following a 2024 Alabama Supreme Court ruling which mandated that frozen embryos be considered human beings under state law.
“I’ve personally been through IVF. It’s a very hard thing for young couples, it’s typically the biggest challenge a young couple faces… it’s an extremely sensitive topic and one that is heartbreaking,” Murphy stated. “There’s some scientific boundaries that I think are crossed. I mean, for example, I do not believe that we should be genetically engineering children, and I will fight in the United States Senate to make sure that we don’t ever genetically modify children to pick designer children. I think that’s morally wrong, ethically wrong. It is not something government should be doing.”
“It’s a very complex issue that just requires some thoughtful legislation and very deep consideration by our lawmakers,” he added.
From there, APR asked Murphy about immigration and whether he agrees with the Trump administration’s current mass deportation regime. Despite recent polling finding that 55 percent of U.S. adults disapprove of Trump’s job performance on immigration, Murphy affirmed his support of the president’s policies with a simple “yes.”
Murphy has previously decried “wasteful spending” in government, calling for the auditing of all federal agencies to improve government efficiency. APR asked Murphy if he believes that the Trump administration’s dramatic budgetary increase for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE–a budget which now exceeds that of many foreign militaries–constitutes “wasteful spending.”
“No, not at all,” Murphy replied. “Securing our borders is not wasteful spending by any stretch of the imagination. You cannot have a sovereign country if you have millions of illegals invading it, as we did in the Biden administration.”
“I strongly support Kristi Noem and what she’s doing at [the Department of Homeland Security],” Murphy continued. “I know Secretary Noem to be a competent administrator. The numbers speak for themselves, what the Trump administration has been able to do in the past ten months, and that is secure our borders and reduce crime, is what Trump campaigned on and he is delivering what he campaigned on.”
Murphy added that he would support President Trump if he decided to deploy National Guard troops to Alabama in service of his mass deportation agenda–an action which the president has already taken in cities like Chicago and Washington D.C. despite outcry from residents and Democratic officials alike. Murphy said he believes that Sen. Tuberville, if elected Alabama’s next governor, could even take that action himself.
“I 100 percent would support that action and I believe that Tommy Tuberville won’t need the president to issue that order,” Murphy stated. “I believe that my former boss will probably issue that order himself if crime is not reduced in cities.”
“I live in Birmingham, I’ve lived my whole life in Birmingham. I live two miles from Five Points Alabama, where last year 18 people were shot, and for years politicians have turned a blind eye to that and said, ‘oh well, it’s just an inner city issue, it’s income issue, it’s an education issue, it’s the problem with guns.’ You know what? Actually backing up your police and sending in people to help them like the National Guard will put a stop to it,” he continued. “And we saw that in the numbers and you could just look at the numbers.”
APR went on to ask Murphy about his work with Sen. Tuberville, and whether he would deviate from the senator on any policies if elected to fill his seat in the U.S. Senate. In his response, Murphy made it clear that he intends to replicate Tuberville’s approach to governance in its entirety if elected his successor.
“No, there’s no daylight between Senator Tuberville and my policies,” Murphy stated. “And what I’m telling the people of Alabama is if they like what Senator Tuberville is doing in Washington, D.C. and they like what President Trump is doing in Washington, D.C., then they’re going to like what Morgan Murphy does in Washington, D.C., because I worked for both men and I wrote policy for both men.”
“I wrote policy for Coach. I wrote policy for the America First Policy Institute, including executive orders when I worked there, and I worked in the White House helping craft policy there, and I am a staunch believer that Coach is the most clear and common sense America First advocate in the United States Senate and we cannot afford to lose his voice,” he added. “He’s a clear reflection of the will of the people of Alabama. Alabama supports America First and President Trump’s Make America Great agenda, and Coach Tuberville reflects that admirably well in the Senate, and I will continue that reflection of the people’s will.”
Murphy’s time working as Tuberville’s national security adviser is perhaps the most notable entry in his lengthy and wide-ranging resume–a resume which has included working as a food critic, launching a bacon company, becoming the Pentagon’s de facto press secretary, serving as a captain in the U.S. Navy, and acting as the chief of public diplomacy for the Special Presidential Envoy to Ukraine. Murphy’s work advising Tuberville brought him national attention after the Washington Post reported that he was the primary architect behind Tuberville’s now-infamous blockade of over 400 military appointments in 2023–a report which precipitated Murphy’s resignation from that role soon after its publication.
While Murphy denies that he had the final say over Tuberville’s decision to “stand in the breach,” he told APR that he remains proud of how he advised the senator during the holdout.
“I’m incredibly proud to have worked for Coach, enormously proud to have advised him, and I was proud to stand in the breach with him during his hold,” Murphy said. “I believe what he did was one of the most noble acts we’ve seen in Washington, in politics in the past 50 years.”
“Coach stood up when a lot of his own colleagues on the Republican side refused to say a word at the Biden administration’s illegal and immoral executive overreach and abuse of executive power,” he added. “So I was very, very proud to stand with Coach in that.”
As for why he resigned from the role? Murphy blames the “fake news.”
“I resigned the position because the fake news, the ‘Washington Compost,’ one: misquoted me and two: overstated my role in Coach’s decision making process. I was an adviser to Coach, I did not make the decision. There’s a key distinction there,” Murphy said. “And for the Post to portray me as some kind of puppeteer or mastermind behind Coach Tuberville’s holds was a breach of every journalism rule of ethics I can think of.”
“I resigned out of respect for my boss. I resigned because the Post was trying to make me the story. The senator is the story, and the senator is the boss, and the senator is the decision maker. A staffer should never be the story,” he added.
Although neither Trump nor Tuberville have endorsed any of the candidates running to be Alabama’s next senator, Murphy has received the endorsement of several current and former Trump officials including Christopher Miller, K.T. McFarland, Sean Spicer, retired Lt. Gen. Keith Kellogg and Ezra Cohen, Trump’s assistant secretary of defense for special operations and low-intensity conflict.
Additionally, Murphy was recently endorsed by billionaire Chase Ergen–son of Dish Network founder Charlie Ergen–and his Make America Wealthy Again Super PAC. “Enabling generational wealth transfer through protective legislation” and “providing tax-exempt capital accumulation for early stage wealth building” are among the issue priorities listed on the PAC’s website.
Murphy told APR that he does not believe the endorsement will harm his appeal with working class Alabamians.
“My entire platform is dedicated to improving the lives of everyday working Alabamians. A rising tide lifts all boats, so if you look at my platform and my policy ideas, I am laser focused on helping young families make their lives more affordable,” Murphy said.
“I’ve entered this race to fight for America’s industrial base. Chase Ergen and Make America Wealthy Again believe in that message, which is why they have endorsed me and it’s why I’m proud to have their endorsement,” he later added.
Murphy is set to compete in a crowded Republican primary, with four other GOP candidates already in the race: U.S. Rep. Barry Moore, Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall, former Navy SEAL Jared Hudson and businessman Rodney Walker.
The Republican primary for U.S. Senate will be held on May 19, 2026.
