Sen. Chris Murphy was seen on a date with progressive media mogul and strategist Tara McGowan at a Washington, DC, bar, just months after announcing his separation from his wife. The cozy outing took place at the Red Hen, a restaurant near Capitol Hill, where the two were spotted cuddling and enjoying a meal together. Murphy, who is still apparently married, sat out President Trump’s address to Congress the following day.
Murphy and his wife announced their separation last November after 17 years of marriage. Despite not filing for divorce, the senator was seen with McGowan, who recently divorced from fellow Dem strategist Michael Halle. McGowan, known for promoting Murphy and his policies on her media platform, has been a vocal supporter of the senator’s pro-democracy stances.
McGowan deactivated her X account on Monday morning, and she and Murphy have been spotted together in public, sparking rumors of a romantic relationship. Despite the controversy surrounding their outing, both Murphy and McGowan have continued to support each other personally and professionally.
McGowan’s media outlet, Courier Newsroom, has faced criticism for its liberal bias, but the FEC dismissed complaints against it. Their relationship has raised eyebrows in political circles, as Murphy continues to be a prominent figure in the Democratic resistance to Trump’s administration.
At least one former Courier employee dished to NOTUS last March, however, that the purpose of the eight-newsroom outlet, positioned in several key swing states, “was to get persuadable voters engaged with unassuming content” on their social media feeds before linking out to “political persuasion content.”
The for-profit news organization — funded by the liberal billionaires George Soros and Reid Hoffman — is also one of several lefty pop-up groups that McGowan has founded since the first Trump administration.
In 2017, she co-founded Lockwood Strategy, a political campaign firm that helped Virginia Democrats retake the state legislature within two years. Digital ads rolled out by Lockwood also helped clients such as Planned Parenthood and the National Democratic Redistricting Committee.
McGowan the same year also set up a political action committee, PACRONYM, which raised more than $18 million to oppose Trump’s 2020 re-election campaign, per federal election campaign filings, and a left-wing 501(c)(4) called ACRONYM.
Both raked in millions from dark-money donors — with the latter becoming infamous as the primary investor in a glitchy app that botched vote results during the 2020 Democratic Iowa caucuses, delaying the tally for days, the Intercept previously reported.
Reps for Murphy’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Neither did McGowan, Halle or Holahan.
