By Mary Whitfill, News Staff
Tuesday’s special congressional election primary left democratic State Sen. Katherine Clark and republican attorney Frank Addivinola vying for the US House of Representatives seat left vacant by Ed Markey.
Markey served as the District 5 representative for 46 years before replacing Secretary of State John Kerry in the US Senate in 2013.
Clark received 21,959 votes, 32 percent of the total democratic votes cast. She has represented Massachusetts’ Fifth Middlesex district in the state Senate since 2011 and served in the state House from 2008 to 2011.
In the Massachusetts Senate, Clark serves as chairman of both the Joint Committee on the Judiciary and the Senate Committee on Steering and Policy. She is also vice chairman of both the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse, as well as the Senate Committee on Post Audit and Oversight.
According to her website, Clark aims to “stop the Republican extremists from turning back the clock on women’s rights” and will focus her service on equal pay, women’s healthcare, job creation and college affordability.
Much of Clark’s campaign focuses on women’s rights in relation to health care, equality in the workplace and domestic violence. A former prosecutor and Cornell University Law School graduate, Clark has experience working with victims of domestic violence and their families. In the legislature, she also filed a bill to tighten sex offender laws. In 2013, the Women’s Bar Association named Clark “Legislator of the Year” for her work on women’s issues.
“It’s amazing to me that Congress can’t even agree on basic matters of common sense fairness and equality like equal pay for equal work, women’s access to health care or making college more affordable,” Clark said on her website. “These aren’t just women’s issues. These are family issues. And I’m tired of hearing radical Republicans talk about family values when they don’t actually focus on what’s best for our families.”
Clark has also taken a strong stance against the National Rifle Association (NRA), supporting the assault weapons ban and universal background checks on gun sales. She serves as a member of the Joint Committee on Public Safety and Homeland Security in the state Senate.
If elected, Clark will vote to end tax breaks for oil companies and billionaires, using the additional revenue to invest in education and job creation, according to her website. During her time in the Massachusetts House, she voted in favor of a sales tax increase.
“What makes our nation great and what drives my public service is the idea that, despite the roadblocks, we are always moving forward towards a more perfect union,” Clark said on her website.
Clark will face off against Addivinola in the final election on Dec. 10. Addivinola claimed 49 percent, 4,759, of republican votes.
Representative.
Addivinola runs a private law practice in Massachusetts, owns an educational publishing company and guest lectures at local colleges, teaching introduction to law and life sciences courses. He holds an MS and MBA from the University of Maryland University College; an MS in biotechnology from John Hopkins University; and a law degree in biomedicine and health law from Suffolk University Law School.
According to his website, the Massachusetts attorney stands firmly against public health care, stating that Americans should have access to affordable private health care coverage and that he opposes “any legislation that forces consumers to buy goods and services.” Additionally, he includes that while he supports Medicare and Medicaid funding, the system currently operates “in an unsustainable way” and needs to be reformed.
Calling job creation his top priority as a representative, Addivinola proposes incentivizing businesses to hire American laborers, lowering the regulatory burden on businesses and lowering the operating costs of businesses through energy prices and tax reductions on his website.
District 5 is one of the most democratic in the state, and voters favored Democrat Martha Coakley over Republican Scott Brown in the 2010 special US Senate election. Coakley has formally endorsed Clark in the election.
The election narrowed the race down from seven democratic and three republican candidates. Democratic candidates were state Sen. William Brownsberger, Middlesex Sheriff Peter Koutoujian, Ashland state Sen. Karen Spilka, Medford state Rep. Carl Sciortino, Martin Long and Paul John Maisano. Addivinola beat Michael Stopa and Tom Tierney for the republican nomination.
