House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark toppled two progressive challengers Tuesday in Massachusetts’ safely Democratic 5th Congressional District, surviving a primary fight that put Gaza and pro-Israel political spending at the center of the race.<\/p>\n
Clark, who won handily Tuesday night against fellow Democratic Party contenders Jonathan Paz and Tarik Samman, was first elected in 2013 during a special election and has held her position as House Democratic whip since 2022.<\/p>\n
The second-highest ranking Democrat after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries,<\/a> Clark has helped lead opposition to Republican spending, immigration and healthcare measures, including recent messaging against ICE funding and GOP cuts to Head Start and Medicaid.<\/p>\n MEET THE FAR-LEFT INSURGENTS WAGING WAR ON THE DEMOCRATIC ESTABLISHMENT IN 2026 MIDTERMS<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n She ran against former city councilor, educator and union organizer Paz and 27-year-old Harvard Law School researcher and union organizer Samman.<\/p>\n Clark fended off two left-wing challengers who sought to make Gaza and pro-Israel political money central issues in the safely blue Boston-area primary.<\/p>\n Her fundraising operation dwarfed both challengers, raising $4.5 million, while Paz raised $88,500 and Samman brought in $43,800, according to FEC filings.<\/p>\n PELOSI-BACKED DEMOCRAT LOSES AFTER $10M FLOOD OF CRYPTO, PRO-ISRAEL MONEY<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n While AIPAC<\/a>, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, endorsed Clark and has contributed to her campaign in the past, she has taken a critical stance toward the Israeli government\u2019s handling of the war in Gaza<\/a>.<\/p>\n AIPAC is an influential pro-Israel lobbying group that has been criticized for advocating for U.S. military aid to Israel amid the war in Gaza.<\/p>\n Last year, Clark used the word “genocide” at a district event before clarifying that she was not accusing Israel of genocide. Then, in July, she voted to cut $3.3 billion in U.S. military aid, saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu\u2019s government had failed to meet U.S. interests and values.<\/p>\n Clark has continued to support Israel as a sovereign Jewish state and backed U.S. assistance for some Israeli defensive systems but is critical of Netanyahu.<\/p>\n TOP HOUSE DEMOCRAT SAYS ANTI-ISRAEL ACTIVISTS\u2019 THREATS KEPT HIM FROM TOWN HALLS FOR A YEAR<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n Samman and Paz have argued that while Clark has increasingly criticized Israel\u2019s conduct in Gaza, she has yet to renounce the AIPAC money<\/a> she has accepted.<\/p>\n Clark ran unopposed in 2024. Her most recent general election opponent was Republican Caroline Colarusso, whom Clark defeated 74% to 26% in 2022.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" House Democratic Whip Katherine Clark toppled two progressive challengers Tuesday in Massachusetts’ safely Democratic 5th Congressional District, surviving a primary fight that put Gaza and pro-Israel political spending at the center of the race. Clark, who won handily Tuesday night against fellow Democratic Party contenders Jonathan Paz and Tarik Samman, was first elected in 2013 … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78167","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78167","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78167"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78167\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78167"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78167"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news2shorts.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78167"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}