From the Katherine Clark campaign, July 8: Teamsters Local 25, representing more than 11,000 workers in the commonwealth, announced its support for state Sen. Katherine Clark in her race to become the next Congresswoman from the 5th District, until June 25 represented by Ed Markey.

With Markey’s special election to U.S. senator, the 5th District race now includes Clark, Democratic state Rep. Carl Sciortino and Republican Frank Addivinola.

“Teamsters Local 25 is pleased and honored to endorse Katherine Clark for Congress in the 5th Congressional District. She has always been accountable and accessible to our membership while serving in the State House, and we know she will continue to fight for working families on Capitol Hill as a member of Congress,” said Sean M. O’Brien, president and principal officer of Teamsters Local 25. “We are excited to be part of her campaign.”

This endorsement adds to the momentum already building for Clark. “I am honored and humbled to have the support of Local 25,” Clark said. She added, “The work they do advocating for safe workplace conditions and fair pay is vitally important, and I have been proud to join them in those efforts. But their advocacy doesn’t stop there. I have also marveled at the way in which they have contributed to our community, especially with their work in fundraising and efforts to raise awareness for autism research.”

Clark’s priority is making sure that our voices are heard in Washington – a place that, these days, is dysfunctional and distracted from what matters to us. Katherine has successfully fought to create jobs, open the books on the state’s finances to the public, fund our public schools equitably and combat bullying and domestic violence. She’s taken on the NRA and stopped them from expanding a concealed weapons law. Clark fights every day for women’s access to basic health care, birth control, family planning and cancer screenings. She will never stand by and watch extremists attack women’s rights.

Clark has already been endorsed in her race for Congress by the Women’s Campaign Fund and has been placed “On The List” by Emily’s List.

Clark was sworn in for her second term as a Massachusetts state senator representing Malden, Melrose, Reading, Stoneham, Wakefield and Winchester on Jan. 2. She was first elected in March 2008 to the Massachusetts House of Representatives.

Clark serves as chairwoman of the Joint Committee on the Judiciary and vice chairwoman of the Joint Committee on Mental Health and Substance Abuse. She also serves on the joint committees on Public Health and Public Safety and Homeland Security. Clark is a member of the Advisory Council for the Department of Early Education and Care. In 2011, she was appointed to the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy Advisory Board at the University of Massachusetts at Boston.