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The Second-Most Powerful Woman in Congress Is Also One of Its Most Low-Key Members
Katherine Clark has a rare knack for old-fashioned coalition-building. Perhaps this is the year she gets her due.
Congress is finally back in session, and Katherine Clark is already drawing up plans: plans to advance her bill to combat workplace sexual harassment; plans to pressure the Senate into working on gun safety reform; plans to make a concerted push for an impeachment inquiry against President Donald Trump.
If that seems like an ambitious agenda, the Massachusetts Democrat, who currently sits as the second-most powerful woman in the House of Representatives, has shown a rare knack for good old-fashioned coalition-building — and she’s been able to keep her ideological integrity without alienating her more moderate party cohort.
Yet, despite her pedigree, Clark receives relatively scant media attention. Perhaps that’s because she rarely seeks the spotlight, preferring to work behind the scenes for her party. (It was the rare occasion when she did take a public stand, when she led a sit-in to protest Republicans’ obfuscation of gun safety reform laws in 2016, that helped Clark catch her party leadership’s attention.)
Perhaps this is the year Clark finally gets her due. She talked with GEN about the Democratic agenda, the 2020 election, and whether we’ll one day address her as “Madam Speaker.”
This interview has been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.
GEN: How can Democrats retake the Senate and the White House in 2020?
Katherine Clark: I think it’s the same path we had in 2018. It’s looking out for [people’s] economic interests, looking out for their security, and looking out for ways to build opportunity. As we see income divides still on the rise, a Republican party committed to carrying the water for special interests, and a president who seems to have no low, we have to be clear that we stand with those families at home. That’s who we work for, and I think that’s what the American people want in their House members, their U.S. senators, and in the White House.
