Clark Wins Easily in Special Election to Replace Markey

Democratic State Senator Katherine Clark defeated Republican Frank Addivinola in a special election to fill Massachusetts's Fifth Congressional District seat in the U.S House of Representatives Tuesday night. Clark won with 65.9 percent of the vote overall, earning 92.6 percent of Cambridge votes.

Clark, who lives in Melrose, will head to Washington, D.C., immediately, reporting to the Capital within the next 48 hours.

“What you see is what you get with Katherine,” said Massachusetts Attorney General Martha M. Coakley at a victory party Tuesday night. “If Washington had a few more Katherine Clarks, the country would be in much better shape.”

After a highly competitive race for the Democratic nomination, Clark was the clear favorite walking into Tuesday’s election. She replaces longtime Congressman and now U.S. Senator Edward J. Markey in the House. Markey won his own special election in June to replace Secretary of State John Kerry in the U.S. Senate.

The Fifth Congressional District includes Harvard’s Cambridge campus.

Clark is the third woman to be elected to Congress from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the past five years.

“It’s time to get back to work for middle class families. No one who works full-time in this country should have to live in poverty,” said Clark at the rally moments after she heard news of her victory.

She spoke about her concerns about global warming and about how the timing of her election coincided with the one-year anniversary of the Sandy Hook tragedy, pointing out Congress’s failure to pass any significant legislation to protect families and citizens from gun violence.

Melrose Mayor Rob J. Dolan said at the rally, “I know this small nook of the country is sending a truly strong woman to Washington.” He would go on to congratulate and express further confidence in the newly elected Congresswoman.

A total of 60,937 voted in the election that included parts of Worcester, Suffolk, and Middlesex Counties.

“When I get to Congress I’m going to work,” Clark said. “I couldn’t be more proud to be the next Congresswoman from the Fifth District.”

—Staff writer Conor J. Reilley can be reached at reilley@college.harvard.edu.