Darrell Ann Murphy teaches Mahjong at the local library with a dual purpose: to create new fans of the game she loves while also helping keep fellow seniors mentally sharp.
She begins class with a rule that has nothing to do with how to play the colorful tiles.
“We are all here to learn,” is Murphy’s opener. “We are all here for one reason. And we’re never going to talk religion or politics.”
Sitting with us in her Easton home, however, the 83-year-old Murphy is happy to share she is a lifelong Democrat, a moderate, a supporter of abortion rights and fierce critic of Donald Trump.
“He actually scares me,” Murphy said of the former president. “I think he does not have the best interest of the country at heart.”
Easton is a deep blue city in a bellwether purple county in a battleground state that will be pivotal for both control of the White House and the Senate this year.
Northampton County has a history of close races, and a history of picking presidential winners.
Trump narrowly carried Northampton in 2016 and his narrow win in Pennsylvania was a critical piece of his Electoral College victory. Joe Biden flipped the script in 2020.
Murphy shrugs off a conservative who says Biden – at 81 – is too old, dismissing such talk as partisanship. But other recent conversations have her more than a little nervous about the county’s 2024 leanings.
“When I start talking about Joe Biden and how I admire and respect him, I get plenty of blowback,” Murphy said. “Plenty of blowback. ‘He is too old. Kamala Harris, forget her.’ Blowback. Now these are people who do not necessarily love Trump. But they talk about wanting a better choice.”
Our visit to Easton is the latest…
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