Katherine Clark wins Massachusetts special election

[sheshe2]

Massachusetts state Sen. Katherine Clark (D) will soon be the newest member of Congress, after she won a special election Tuesday.

Clark easily won the race for Sen. Edward J. Markey's (D-Mass.) old House seat. Markey won a special election for the Senate seat formerly held by Secretary of State John F. Kerry.
With 88 percent of precincts reporting, Clark led Republican Frank Addivinola 68 percent to 30 percent.

snip

Clark becomes the third woman to be elected to Congress from Massachusetts in the last five years -- after there had been only three in the previous 200-plus years of the state's existence.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-politics/wp/2013/12/10/katherine-clark-wins-massachusetts-special-election/

[JanT]

1. yea!!!

Masschusetts

[sheshe2]

4. I think so~

Thanks JanT.

[Cha]

2. Awesome, she! And, WOW. That's an interesting little detail!

"Clark becomes the third woman to be elected to Congress from Massachusetts in the last five years -- after there had been only three in the previous 200-plus years of the state's existence."

[sheshe2]

3. Great news to come home to~

We sent two strong women to Washington this year! Boston Strong in so many ways.

Cha....and thanks~

[Cha]

7. Mind boggling! Good on

Good ol Massachusetts, she~

she

[rhett o rick]

5. k&r thanks for posting. nm

[pacalo]

6. Wonderful!

[sheshe2]

21. pacalo~

Thanks!

[pacalo]

24. Thanks for posting it, sheshe!

[MannyGoldstein]

8. Close race.

Glad Clark pulled it out in the end.

[sheshe2]

9. Ooookay, Manny~

With 100 percent of precincts reporting, Clark defeated Addivinola, 65.9 percent to 31.7 percent. She will become the fifth woman to represent Massachusetts in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/12/massachusetts-special-election-results-katherine-clark-100987.html#ixzz2n8ZwWW2u

You think we need a recount?

Katherine Clark~

[Old and In the Way]

26. Was she progressive enough? Only Manny can decide.

Manny wants only the best liberal/progressives elected. Otherwise a regressive Republican is OK...cuz there's no difference between a right-of -Manny Democrat and a Neanderthal Republican. Right Manny?

[Jim Lane]

33. Your personal attack on Manny is unjustified.

It's one thing to want only the best liberal/progressives elected (a view Manny and I share). It's quite another to assert that "there's no difference between a right-of -Manny Democrat and a Neanderthal Republican." I've read many of Manny's posts, and I don't recall any that would support your characterization of his views. Might you favor us with a link?

There's a legitimate difference of opinion among DUers as to how enthusiastic we should be about right-wing Democratic candidates in the general election. Some say we should support them whole-heartedly because the Republicans are so awful. (This view says, in effect, that once the primary is over, there's no difference between a right-wing Democrat and a good progressive.) Others announce their refusal to vote for any bad candidate, even if he or she is the Democrat and even if the Republican is worse. I'm in a third group that agrees with the first about supporting the Democrat over the Republican, but takes the Democrat's conservatism into account in decisions about money, volunteer time, etc., and is also willing to point out such conservatism. You seem to be implying that anyone who criticizes a Democrat for conservatism must therefore see no difference between that Democrat and a Tea Partier. If that's your reasoning, you're wrong.

[Arkana]

34. Close race? She beat him 2-to-1.

[Zorra]

44. My dear Manny...

please, know that your humor is completely understood, and much appreciated, by many of us.

I fervently hope.

Alas, these are, obviously, very different times...

[MannyGoldstein]

45. Sometimes I feel like a human Rorschach test

There are strange things happening every day...

[Zorra]

50. Not to worry, the inkblots have clear significance.

And yes, strange things are happening every day...because it's a strange, strange world we've been conditioned to live in...

[blue14u]

10. Happy Happy News sheshe2

You are amazing and I know you worked so hard for her..

Excellent job and thank you for sharing the news...Massachusetts Rocks!!!

I needed a happy today!

[sheshe2]

11. I do have to agree with you, blue~

Massachusetts Rocks!!!

[blue14u]

13. So do you she...

Never forget you helped make it happen..

Without constituents like you, it couldn't be done...

congratulations Congresswoman Katherine Clark (D)..

[frazzled]

12. That's my old district

I don't know her (sorry, the name doesn't ring a bell— I've been gone for 8 years), but I wish her well!

[sheshe2]

15. She looks good, frazzled.

Clark could be sworn in Thursday, as the newest member of the minority party in a deeply polarized, hyper-partisan House and a Congress that will almost certainly go down as the least productive in modern history.

In Washington, she has vowed to fight “extremist Republicans” on issues such as pay equity for women and abortion rights, but will face a daunting challenge, since the GOP controls both the chamber and the agenda in the House.

Tuesday’s outcome was hardly in doubt since the district is heavily Democratic, and favored President Obama over Mitt Romney by more than 30 percentage points in 2012. Clark was also backed by her party, as well as unions and women’s groups, and raised $1.2 million.

The state and national Republican parties had all but ceded the race to Clark, giving no financial help to Addivinola, a Boston lawyer who has run for office three times and does not even live in the district. He raised just $38,000 while loaning himself nearly $62,000.

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/12/10/katherine-clark-wins-special-election-for-house/5MyCI2RWY4HdgvfFTx5oQJ/story.html

[frazzled]

19. Yes she does.

I didn't doubt for a second the district would go for the Democrat: I hope she's a good progressive and good with constituent needs back in her district. She sounds like a winner!

[freshwest]

28. Wonderful news from MA. Thanks guys! n/t

[FailureToCommunicate]

29. De nada. Though I do wish our GOTV effort had resulted in better than 13% turnout. Even factoring

Last edited Wed Dec 11, 2013, 11:16 AM - Edit history (1)

the (slightly icy) weather at the end of the workday, and that there was no real contest (Clark's Republican opponent didn't even live in the district) the turnout was pretty pathetic. My cynical side guesses people stood longer at Starbuck's waiting for their morning latte than it would have taken to vote...

Well, as we said with the recent Patriot's wins, a win is a win, no matter how messy.

[sheshe2]

36. Hey fresh~

Thanks, not much turn out....yet, we won. We got a woman too! Yes!

[smirkymonkey]

37. She is great. She was my college roommate and an extremely sincere progressive.

I have absosolute faith in her governing abilities. She is incredibidly intelligent, kind, compassionate and wants the very best for the most people. I am so happy that she won.

[sheshe2]

39. Wow!

Thanks smirkingmonkey.

That is one hell of a reference!

[frazzled]

46. Well, you would know!

Honestly, knowing someone from earlier in their life, and seeing their intelligence or honesty, is a great insight into who they are as a person. Those kinds of things rarely change.

[FailureToCommunicate]

14. I personally helped two people who fell on the icy sidewalk outside our polling place, so

certainly some people may have stayed away due to lousy weather. (And yes, of course I got sand to cover the area before anyone else fell...)

Still, the turnout should have been higher. **sigh**

[sheshe2]

16. I agree, but we still got it done.

Kudos to you FTC for helping those that feel. It was slippery today.

Now we move on to 2014!

[Jasana]

17. Congrats to us... again!

This is like what; our third special election? Mass rocks! Thank you sheshe2 for your hard work and thanks to those who worked the polls. I couldn't help at all this time but I did vote by absentee ballot.

[alp227]

18. K&R + Boston Globe story

http://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2013/12/11/katherine-clark-posts-lopsided-victory-race-fill-markey-house-seat/Dfr5VPA2ePUex4JAZhmLTM/story.html

More background about Clark:

Born and raised in New Haven, Clark, 50, is a graduate of St. Lawrence University and of Cornell Law School. She worked for a large law firm in Chicago and in the office of the Colorado attorney general before moving to Massachusetts in 1995 to attend the Kennedy School of Government.

Since then, she has worked primarily as a public-sector lawyer, in the Massachusetts Office of Child Care Services and in the office of Attorney General Martha Coakley. She was elected to the Massachusetts House in 2008 and won a state Senate seat in 2010.

Perhaps her biggest legislative achievement is a 2011 law she cosponsored that made public employees work longer for fewer benefits in an effort to shrink an estimated $20 billion unfunded liability in the state pension system. Clark argued the cuts would ensure that the pension system remains solvent for future generations.

Whoa...can any Mass DUers explain this? Why did Deval Patrick sign such a law? Sounds like something Scott Walker would've championed.

[sheshe2]

20. Don't know about it...

to late for me tonight to look into it, gotta work in a few hours!

[Old and In the Way]

27. I'll bet the Republican was far more liberal.

Because, as we all know, Republicans care lots more about our welfare. Seriously, when I see Republicans like Pete McCloskey and Bill Cohen get elected, then I'll start considering Republican candidates, again. Until then, I'll take my chances with less-than perfect Democrats.

[liberal from boston]

22. Katherine Clark

Wicked Awesome!!!

[sheshe2]

23. Another Bostonian~

Well I am suburbs...yet we are all Boston, lfb, are we not~

[CTyankee]

30. my daughter lives in Sherborn. I visit often. She supported Clark and said good things about

her. Glad she won. More progressive women in office!

[SoapBox]

25. Bravo!

[MissMillie]

31. woot!

that's what I call a landslide!

[kelliekat44]

32. Yeah!!!!! nt

[Warren Stupidity]

35. See, case in point. The obamacare backlash is going kill us in 2014.

[smirkymonkey]

38. k&r

So happyfor her!

[Pretzel_Warrior]

40. That was a highly successful execution of Dem succession plan in Mass!!

Hopefully the likes of Scott Brown will be a distant memory after he sullied Ted Kennedy's seat.

Dem Senator goes to Secretary of State where he's kicking ass and taking names

Dem U.S. Representative backfills the U.S. senate seat.

Dem State Senator backfulls U.S. Representative seat.

Now we just need to get a Dem State Rep to replace that Senator and some local Dem official to take the State Rep position!

[sheshe2]

41. Hey P_W thanks!

We rocked!

Filling the seat should not be a problem, the 5th district is heavily democratic!

[Pretzel_Warrior]

42. in other words, the 5th district is heavily intelligent

[sheshe2]

43. You got it!

You win, Bingo~

[mstinamotorcity2]

47. Hope she got some

acid reflux medicine. Because the republicans in the House are nauseating.

[sheshe2]

48. No problem...

She is Boston Strong!

[mstinamotorcity2]

49. Yes and I'm Imported

from Detroit. But repugs are a headache. I am done. I feel as though they are sub-human. Robotrons or some alien shit. they just messed up and the bubble they live in will never be pierced with knowledge. I saw throw out bath water and baby.

[Tarheel_Dem]

51. How did I miss this yesterday? K&R!!!!