Patrick H. Murray, a former State House staffer and veteran of Maryland Democratic Party politics, will serve as chief of staff to Senate President Thomas V. Mike Miller Jr., Miller announced Tuesday.
Murray, 38, replaces Victoria L. Gruber, who was recently named executive director of the state Department of Legislative Services. Gruber replaces Warren Deschenaux, who retired from that job and as director of the Office of Policy Analysis.
During his previous stint at the State House, Murray served as Miller’s deputy chief of staff from 2008 to 2011 and as senior policy analyst to House Speaker Michael E. Busch from 2005 to 2008.
In 2015 Murray was named executive director of the Maryland Democratic Party. The next year he left to manage Chris Van Hollen’s successful campaign for the U.S. Senate. Murray has also worked as director of state affairs for Johns Hopkins University & School of Medicine. He also teaches American government and politics at American University in Washington.
In another legislative staff move, Gruber said veteran legislative staffer J. Ryan Bishop would assume Deschenaux’s former duties as chief policy analyst.