Democratic Caucus Vice Chair Katherine Clark speaks at the House Democrats’ 2019 Issues Conference in Leesburg, Virginia, on April 10, 2019. (AP Images / Bill Clark / CQ Roll Call)
Most members of Congress don’t begin as members of Congress. They start in their hometowns, with campaigns for the city council or a county post or the school board.
House Democratic Caucus vice chair Katherine Clark came up that way, beginning with a bid for the Melrose, Massachusetts, School Committee in 2001. Her service on the committee continues to guide her activism on behalf of education, just as her service as a state legislator in Massachusetts informs her fierce commitment to maintaining a system of checks and balances in Washington—a commitment that led her to become the first member of the House Democratic leadership to call for an impeachment inquiry.
But what has distinguished Clark throughout her career has been something else: A determination to speak up for the interests of women in workplaces, in communities, on the Internet, and in Congress. An outspoken feminist, she has said for years that framing campaigns around the interests and needs of women is smart politics—and smart policy. She has had to argue with a few political consultants along the way. But as a new generation of young women enter the Congress and make their mark, Clark is enthusiastic about amplifying their voices-and about recruiting women to run in 2020.
We discuss her vision on this week’s Next Left.
Rep. Katherine Clark Talks Washington Politics, WBUR, Tiziana Dearing and Jamie Bologna
Katherine Clark Is Highest Ranking House Democrat to Call For Impeachment Inquiry, Huffpost, Sanjana Karanth
Rep. Katherine Clark On Impeachment Inquiry: Trump ‘Has Brought Us To This Moment of Truth’, WGBH, Joe Mathieu
Representative Katherine Clark takes on Betsy DeVos over ‘racist’ policy change, Boston Globe, Adrian Walker
John NicholsTwitterJohn Nichols is a national affairs correspondent for The Nation. He has written, cowritten, or edited over a dozen books on topics ranging from histories of American socialism and the Democratic Party to analyses of US and global media systems. His latest, cowritten with Senator Bernie Sanders, is the New York Times bestseller It's OK to Be Angry About Capitalism.