Second-highest-ranking House Democrat faces primary challenge from party’s left flank
Rep. Katherine Clark of Massachusetts, the No. 2 House Democrat in party leadership, is being primary challenged from the left as she seeks re-election next year.
Jonathan Paz, an organizer and former city councilor in Waltham, Massachusetts, announced in a video that he would challenge Clark, the House minority whip, who has represented a suburban Boston district for a dozen years.
Clark will likely be the highest-ranking Democrat in the House to face a primary challenge in next year’s midterms, when Democrats hope to win back the chamber’s majority from the Republicans.
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Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York, the top Democrat in the House, a few weeks ago briefly faced a primary challenge from the left from New York City council member Chi Ossé, before Ossé ended his bid.
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Paz, who will face a steep uphill climb as he takes on Clark, in his video highlighted, “I’m challenging one of the most powerful Democrats in the House because we need new leadership.”
Paz, who recently founded a volunteer group that responds to ICE arrests and whose family emigrated from Bolivia, argued that “our Democratic leaders are failing us. They’re not stopping Trump. They’re not making life more affordable. They’re not building a party for the working class.”
The National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), the House GOP’s campaign arm, worked to link Paz’s primary challenge against Clark to New York City’s far left Mayor-elect, Zohran Mamdani.
“In today’s Democrat Party, even their own radical leaders aren’t extreme enough for the Mamdani Mob. And they won’t stop until total control is complete,” NRCC spokesman Mike Marinella argued in a statement.
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