House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark won Tuesday’s Democratic primary in Massachusetts’ 5th Congressional District, easily defeating two progressive challengers who tried to make her ties to pro-Israel political money the defining issue of the race.
Clark, the second-ranking Democrat in the House behind Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, beat former Boston-area city councilor and educator Jonathan Paz and 27-year-old Harvard Law School researcher Tarik Samman in the safely Democratic district, which covers parts of the Boston area including Suffolk County.
Money was no contest. Clark raised $4.5 million for the race, according to Federal Election Commission filings, compared with $88,500 for Paz and $43,800 for Samman.
Clark has been endorsed by AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, and has accepted its contributions in the past. Paz and Samman both argued that despite Clark’s increasingly critical public statements on Israel’s conduct of the war in Gaza, she has not renounced that AIPAC money.
Clark’s own record on the issue has shifted. Last year she used the word “genocide” at a district event, then walked it back, saying she was not accusing Israel of genocide. In July, she voted to cut $3.3 billion in U.S. military aid to Israel, arguing that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government had failed to meet American interests and values. She continues to back Israel’s right to exist as a sovereign Jewish state and supports U.S. assistance for some of its defensive systems, while remaining critical of Netanyahu.
Clark was first elected to the seat in a 2013 special election and has served as House Democratic whip since 2022. She has taken a lead role for House Democrats in opposing Republican spending, immigration and healthcare measures, including recent pushback on ICE funding and GOP cuts to Head Start and Medicaid.
Clark ran unopposed in the 2024 general election. Her most recent Republican opponent, Caroline Colarusso, lost to her 74% to 26% in 2022.
