Edward Murphy Jr. was a businessman and politician from Troy, New York. A Democrat, he served as mayor of Troy, New York (1875–1883), chairman of the New York State Democratic Committee (1888–1894), and a United States senator from New York (1893–1899).

The New York State Democratic Committee is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of New York. Its headquarters are in Manhattan, and it has an office in Albany. It is currently the dominant party in the state, controlling the majority of New York's U.S. House seats, both U.S. Senate seats, both houses of the state legislature, and the governorship.