Representative Katherine Clark

Katherine Marlea Clark is an American lawyer and politician who has represented Massachusetts's 5th Congressional District since 2013 and has served as House Minority Whip since 2023. Her district includes many of Boston's northern and western suburbs and satellite cities, including communities such as Medford, Waltham, Woburn, and Framingham.

Born July 17, 1963, in New Haven, Connecticut, Clark attended St. Lawrence University and earned her J.D. from Cornell Law School, later completing study at Harvard's Kennedy School. She worked as an attorney in multiple states before moving to Massachusetts in 1995, where she entered public service in state government and built a reputation on education and child welfare issues.

Clark first won local office in Melrose, serving on the Melrose School Committee (eventually chair). She later served in the Massachusetts House and Senate, where she worked on initiatives spanning education policy, criminal justice, and municipal pension reform, experience that shaped her legislative style as a coalition-minded institutional operator.

In Congress, Clark has focused on appropriations, early childhood education, paid family leave, and combating domestic violence. As House Democratic Whip, she is a central vote-counter and strategist, blending message discipline with steady internal leadership across the caucus.

Mainstream Liberal