Rep. Katherine Clark (D-MA), who is the second-highest-ranked House Democrat, will get a primary challenge in the 2026 midterm elections. Clark is the House Minority Whip and is only behind House Minority Leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) in the party’s ranking order. Jonathan Paz, a former city council member from Waltham, Massachusetts, will challenge Clark. “I’m running for Congress to put power back in your hands. Working families deserve to thrive, not be squeezed out of the communities they love. I will fight for the working class, not the donor class. Watch why this moment is ours,” Paz, the son of Bolivian immigrants, wrote on X. “I’m challenging one of the most powerful Democrats in the House because we need new leadership,” Paz said in his campaign announcement video. “Let’s just call it what it is: our Democratic leaders are failing us. They’re not stopping Trump. They’re not making life more affordable. They’re not building a party for the working class. That’s why we need to rebuild the Democratic Party,” he continued. Check it out: I’m running for Congress to put power back in your hands. Working families deserve to thrive, not be squeezed out of the communities they love. I will fight for the working class, not the donor class. Watch why this moment is ours pic.twitter.com/P5z3CCtQoq — Jonathan Paz (@PazForThePeople) December 15, 2025 POLITICO has more: Paz, who served for four years on the Waltham City Council, more recently founded Fuerza, a volunteer group that responds to ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in the region. Clark is likely to be the highest-ranking House Democrat to face a contested primary. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries had faced a run by New York City Council Member Chi Ossé, but Ossé dropped the bid earlier this month. Clark ran unopposed in 2024 and had more than $1.8 million in her campaign coffers as of the end of September. No. 2 House Democrat Katherine Clark gets primary challenger https://t.co/CuLhGKU9Cx — POLITICO (@politico) December 15, 2025 Your opinion? The Hill shared further info about Paz: Paz founded two organizations supporting residents impacted by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and its raids. In the ad, he touched on his background as someone who was born in the U.S., raised in Bolivia and then returned to the U.S. when he was still a child, watching his parents work multiple jobs to make ends meet. He shared his experience being 14 years old and watching his father be detained and deported, and being the first in his family to get a college education. His campaign also touts some of his advocacy efforts, including helping organize an opposition effort that successfully defeated a ballot measure from moving forward in the Bay State that would have allowed ride-hailing drivers to be considered independent contractors with some benefits.