Democrat Clark wins congressional election in Massachusetts

Eastern Massachusetts voters elected a Democratic state senator as their newest representative in the U.S. Congress on Tuesday in a special election to fill the seat formerly held by now-Senator Edward Markey, according to local media reports. Democrat Katherine Clark, who campaigned on issues including improving women’s healthcare and the rising cost of college, easily won a four-way race to represent a district that includes Boston’s near western suburbs but not the city itself, according to the reports, including by the Boston Globe. She defeated Republican Frank Addivinola, Independent James Aulenti and James Hall of the Justice Peace Security party in an election to succeed Markey, who in June was elected to fill the Senate seat that became vacant when John Kerry was named secretary of state. Addivinola, a lawyer, had sought to tie Clark to President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform law at a time the program has been plagued by technical problems.