Representative Katherine M. Clark of Massachusetts, the No. 2 House Democrat, is set to become the majority leader in January, after her party won control of the chamber.
Ms. Clark, 63, a quiet, progressive power player in Congress, would make history as the first woman to hold that role, though Representative Nancy Pelosi broke a higher glass ceiling in 2007 when she became the first woman to be speaker.
“I feel a weight of responsibility,” Ms. Clark said in an interview this week. “It’s the women’s voices from traveling across my district and the country that really haunt me.”
Described by friends as similar in ideology and temperament to Senator Elizabeth Warren, also of Massachusetts, Ms. Clark is set to be the most liberal member on House Democrats’ leadership team next year. The majority leader is responsible for setting the schedule, but Ms. Clark has also come to be known in her caucus as a master of member management, keeping up with the needs and issues, both personal and political, of Democratic lawmakers.
Here is what you need to know about Ms. Clark.
She is further to the left on Israel than Hakeem Jeffries.
Speaking at an event in her district last year hosted by a Quaker organization, Ms. Clark described Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide, when she encouraged people to take action on political issues, including “stopping the starvation and genocide and destruction in Gaza.”
That made her the most senior Democrat in leadership to use the term, which she then abruptly retracted. Ms. Clark said in a statement that she had repeated the word “genocide” in response to a question and stated: “I am not accusing Israel of genocide.”
Still, Ms. Clark is notably further to the left on Israel than Representative Hakeem Jeffries, a longtime supporter of the Jewish state who represents one of the largest Jewish communities in the country and is in line to become speaker.
In July, when the House voted on a Republican measure to eliminate U.S. aid to Israel, Mr. Jeffries opposed it while Ms. Clark voted in favor. Ms. Clark said at the time that she supported the measure, “not because I agree with the entirety of the amendment, or the G.O.P.’s cynical motivations for its consideration, but because I believe we must change course.”
And it was notably Ms. Clark — not Mr. Jeffries — who first reached out to offer congratulations in the primary victory of Darializa Avila Chevalier, a democratic socialist from New York who attended a pro-Palestinian rally in the city the day after the Hamas attack on Israel in October 2023.
She built her base of power among women.
Unlike Mr. Jeffries, who has been viewed as a rising star since he entered state politics, Ms. Clark’s path was not always obvious.
A lawyer by training, Ms. Clark first became involved in politics when she joined her school committee to advocate all-day kindergarten for her children. She served in the State Legislature before she was elected to Congress in 2013.
In Washington, she quietly built a base of support, starting with the female lawmakers who lived in her apartment building near the Capitol.
“One of the first roles in leadership was recruitment,” recalled Representative Grace Meng, Democrat of New York, a close friend who lives in the building. “I’d see her spend countless hours counseling candidates, especially women candidates, and slowly people realized what a leader she was.”
In the role of minority whip, Ms. Clark has gained the trust of members across the caucus, who said her mantra was simple: “You vote your district every time; you just let me know how you’re going to vote.”
She also brings a feminine eye and maternal energy to the job.
“She takes care of us in many ways,” said Representative Lateefah Simon, a progressive Democrat from California. “I remember her telling me in the hall that my jacket was a little wrinkly. She said, ‘We’ll steam it for you.’”
And her style has engendered loyalty.
Ms. Simon, who lost her husband to leukemia in 2014, said Ms. Clark requested to visit a children’s hospital in her district in Oakland to highlight the Trump administration’s canceling clinical trials for cancer patients.
“I thought, ‘I’ll follow you anywhere,’” she said.
Ms. Warren, another close friend who said the two often catch up at the JetBlue terminal to and from Washington, said of Ms. Clark: “She’s on my speed dial, and I hope I’m on hers.”
Her trans daughter has shaped her views.
Ms. Clark has been a vocal advocate of rights for transgender people, often invoking her support for her trans daughter, Riley Dowell, when opposing legislation and statements that target the group.
“I rise in honor of trans joy that deserves to be celebrated, not eradicated,” Ms. Clark said on the House floor three years ago. “I rise with unconditional love for my trans daughter, Riley, and I rise in solidarity with every trans American seeking nothing less than their inalienable right to the pursuit of happiness.”
Representative Sarah McBride, Democrat of Delaware and the first openly transgender member of Congress, said: “As the mother of a trans kid, she understands on a deeply personal level the importance of standing up for the dignity of every person, and I have felt that support firsthand.”
Ms. Clark’s personal life has shaped her policy views in other ways. She has spoken at length about being a primary caregiver to her parents and her three children, noting how that experience influenced her priorities. She has long made accessible and affordable child care one of her top issues.
“I ran for this seat originally in large part because of child care and making sure that is something that all families can access and afford,” she said in the interview. “That we’re also bringing up the wages of child care providers and early educators that are overwhelmingly women and women of color to a livable wage continues to be a high priority for me.”
Ms. Clark said she thinks constantly about the women she has met on the campaign trail who are struggling.
“There are moms who try and brush off that they are giving up one or two meals a day so their kids can eat,” she said. “They tell me, ‘Well, I could stand to lose a few pounds.’”
She is the rare No. 2 who hasn’t sought to be No. 1.
Historically, the second-ranking leader in the House is smarting (and sometimes actively seething) over the fact that he isn’t in the top job.
Representative Steny H. Hoyer, Democrat of Maryland and the former majority leader, saw his political ambitions over two decades sometimes squeezed by Ms. Pelosi, a onetime rival for power.
Representative Steve Scalise, Republican of Louisiana and the majority leader, was a longtime rival to former Speaker Kevin McCarthy. After Mr. McCarthy’s ouster, Mr. Scalise made his own, failed bid for the top job that ultimately went to a more junior congressman from his state, Mike Johnson. That relationship has also been tense underneath the veneer of southern politeness.
Ms. Clark and Mr. Jeffries work well together but are not particularly close, according to people familiar with their relationship, but she has shown no interest in holding the top job. In fact, when Ms. Pelosi announced in 2022 that she would step aside from the top job, Ms. Clark cut a deal with Mr. Jeffries that he would seek the No. 1 position and she would be the No. 2, even though Ms. Clark had a more senior position on the leadership team.
For one, the job of speaker involves being the lead fund-raiser for the party, which is not considered one of Ms. Clark’s strong suits.
“She is very respectful to Hakeem, and they talk all the time,” Ms. Meng said. “They are really thoughtful about strategizing and presenting a united front to the caucus.”
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