Democratic Whip Katherine Clark, D-Mass., a Revere resident who has supported numerous pieces of childcare and women’s rights legislation during her nearly 13 years in Congress, is running for reelection.
The second-highest ranking Democrat in the House faces two challengers from the left in the primary election on Sept. 1 — Tarik Samman, a 27-year-old union organizer, and Jonathan Paz, an activist and former Waltham city councilor.
Originally from Connecticut, Clark studied history at St. Lawrence University, earned her law degree at Cornell and a masters in public administration at Harvard. She lived in Chicago and Colorado for years, working as an attorney and prosecutor for the Colorado Attorney General’s Office. Clark and her husband moved to Melrose, MA, in 1995 to raise their family.
Clark’s entry into public service began locally, as a parent, when she was voted onto the Melrose School Committee in 2002. She was first elected to Congress in 2013. Her colleagues elected her to be the Democratic Whip in 2022. As Whip, Clark is the party’s chief enforcer and vote-counter.
Clark told the Observer she is running for reelection because people are “tired of a system that doesn’t work for them, of higher costs, of corruption, and Donald Trump and all that he is standing for.”
If reelected for an eighth term, she vows to be a voice for working-class families and women and aims to make the “American dream” feel more attainable.
“I have the track record of fighting, of making change, of bringing funding home to our district, of being able to work together around a broad coalition in every part of the 5th district, to make progress for people here,” she said. “My sole goal is to make sure that the voices of the communities that make up this district have a voice in Congress.”
In addition to supporting several other pieces of legislation, Clark was the House’s lead sponsor of the Protecting Our Infants Act, which directs the federal government to develop comprehensive strategies for treating babies born with opioid exposure; and she co-led the Into the Light for Maternal Mental Health and Substance Use Disorders Act of 2022, which expands screening, awareness, and treatment for maternal mental health conditions like postpartum depression. Hyper-locally, Clark announced about $1 million in funding for the Lexington Tree Canopy and advocated for $350,000 to electrify Lexington Public Schools’ fleet of buses under the American Rescue Plan.
While campaigning for reelection this time around, Clark’s campaign site lists several priorities: affordability, healthcare, childcare, women’s rights, climate, equity, gun safety, voting rights, and education.
Asked what her top priority is, Clark said affordability.
“Everywhere I go in this district, the discussion is about the high cost of housing, transportation, childcare, groceries, and gas, and all of these [issues] are tied back to very real policy choices that Donald Trump and the Republican Party have made,” she argued. “Our priorities are clear: we’re gonna help lower costs, we’re gonna make healthcare affordable and available when and where people need it, and we’re gonna hold the crooks accountable for their corruption.”
Asked how she’ll do that, Clark said the first step is to flip the House so there is a Democratic majority again. That way, the left can have control of what legislation comes to the floor, she explained.
To make healthcare more affordable and equitable, Clark said she will work to extend Affordable Care Act tax credits and ensure that giving birth is an “essential health benefit.”
Another issue that impacts affordability is housing. Clark thinks the MBTA Communities Act “is the right idea,” but believes lawmakers must also prioritize fighting President Donald Trump’s tariffs because they are increasing the cost of building new housing, she told the Observer.
Clark noted she has worked with lawmakers across the aisle to get housing-related legislation passed.
She helped rally bisupport for the 21st Century ROAD to Housing Act, a wide-ranging housing package that became law in July 2026. Among its provisions, the Act restricts certain large institutional investors from purchasing additional single-family homes. Trump declined to sign it, describing it as “a big yawn” and “of minor importance.” He did not veto it, however, and it became law without his signature after 10 days.
One category not listed on Clark’s site is immigration. Samman and Paz have publicly called for the abolition of ICE, but Clark has not done the same — not in so many words, anyway.
Asked about her thoughts on ICE’s actions since Trump’s inauguration in January, Clark described the agency as “state-sponsored terror.”
“We’ve seen it in Lexington, we’ve seen it throughout the 5th district in Massachusetts, and around the country,” she said. “I am so proud of the people of Lexington — we’re standing up and standing against what ICE is doing because when ICE is not accountable, when the public is not getting the investigations and the accountability that they need, ICE becomes a danger to communities wherever they are.”
Clark believes ICE should be made responsible for their actions, present warrants if they enter someone’s home, wear identification and body cameras, and operate “respectfully.”
“These are very common simple things they should be doing but they refuse to,” Clark added. “Instead they act like a secret military force of the president.”
She’d like America’s immigration system to allow people to come to the U.S. and build lives here but also keep the border secure.
Clark has supported legislation that aims to create easier pathways for immigrant workers to become citizens. She supported the Farm Workforce Modernization Act, which sought to create a legal path to status for current undocumented farmworkers, overhaul the temporary agricultural worker visa program, and mandate electronic employment verification for agricultural employers.
“[It] not only demanded that we have humane work conditions for farm workers, that they have housing that is clean, has running water, electricity, is safe, but also that they can travel back-and-forth depending on the agricultural season to their country of origin, and that they get paid a decent amount with water breaks and other safety OSHA considerations,” she noted. “And in return, we had a buy-in from Big Agriculture, from the farmers workers unions, we were able to bring together a broad coalition to say, ‘this will be good at reducing the cost of groceries and this will be good for workers.’”
The legislation passed in the House in 2021, but stalled in the Senate.
Asked if she thinks the two parties can come together to improve immigration law, Clark said, “that’s totally up to the Republicans,” but she plans to lead the House in “putting forth rational immigration policy that makes sense.”
“Let’s end the policy of sending children to detention camps, of ripping law-abiding immigrant families who are paying their taxes, who are here with work permits, apart; deporting people to countries they may never have been to in their lives; ripping people apart; denying them due process,” she said.
Paz and Samman both shared their disapproval of how Clark has accepted money from super PACs, corporate PACs, and the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) during her campaign this time around. The Whip has accepted money from Delta Air Lines PAC, the American Veterinary Medical Association PAC, and Liberty Mutual Insurance Company PAC, among others. The challengers argued that by accepting money from PACs, Clark is beholden to their interests when voting on legislation.
Clark disagrees.
“There’s only one thing that influences my votes in Congress and that’s what’s best for Massachusetts,” she said. “If they quibble with certain votes I’ve taken, they are certainly entitled to do that — that’s part of a good campaign — but there’s no one that I am beholden to, or whose thoughts or ideas or donations I take into account. Ten out of 10 times I vote for the people of this district and what I feel is best for them.”
As of Aug. 26, 2026, Clark has raised about $4,500,000 this campaign cycle. Paz has raised about $86,000, and Samman, about $44,000.
Clark believes that her experience is what makes her better fit for this role than Paz or Samman.
She added that it’s important to vote women into leadership roles so the cast of policymakers in Washington is representative of those it serves.
“Women’s representation is important,” she said. “I’m, right now, the highest ranking woman in Congress, and that alone is not an accomplishment, but it is true representation and it is important that we continue to have women’s voices — especially when our healthcare, our place in the economy, is so under attack — right at the leadership table, and that is a critical piece of the work that I do.”
The MA primary election, where voters will choose whether Clark, Paz, or Samman will appear on the general election ballot, is slated for Sept. 1, 2026. The general election is scheduled for Nov. 3, 2026.