2013 Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election

A special election for Massachusetts's 5th congressional district took place on December 10, 2013, due to the resignation of Democratic Congressman Ed Markey following his election to the United States Senate in a special election on June 25, 2013.^[1] Primary elections were held on October 15, in which Democratic state senator Katherine Clark and Republican Frank Addivinola won their party nominations. State law required that Governor Deval Patrick call a special election between 145 and 160 days after the vacancy became official.^[2] On December 10, Clark easily defeated Addivinola with almost 2/3 of the vote, holding the seat for the Democrats.^[3] Clark's win marked the 92nd consecutive U.S. House loss by Republicans in Massachusetts since 1996.^[4]

2013 Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election

← 2012 December 10, 2013 2014 →
Massachusetts's 5th congressional district
Nominee Katherine Clark Frank Addivinola Party Democratic Republican Popular vote 40,172 19,319 Percentage 65.8% 31.5%
Municipality results Clark:      50–60%      60–70%      70–80%      >90% Addivinola:      50–60%
U.S. Representative before election Ed Markey Democratic Elected U.S. Representative Katherine Clark Democratic

Democratic primary

Candidates

Declared

• Will Brownsberger, state senator^[5]
• Katherine Clark, state senator^[5]
• Peter Koutoujian, sheriff of Middlesex County and former state representative^[5]
• Martin Long, former member of the Lexington School Committee^[6]
• Paul Maisano^[6]
• Carl Sciortino, state representative^[5]
• Karen Spilka, state senator^[5]

Declined

• Warren Tolman, former state senator^[5]

Endorsements

Katherine Clark

State officials

• Paul Brodeur, state representative of Massachusetts, 32nd Middlesex District^[7]
• Martha Coakley, attorney general of Massachusetts^[8]
• Marjorie Decker, state representative of Massachusetts, 25th Middlesex District^[7]
• Susan Fargo, former Massachusetts state senator^[9]
• Allyson Schwartz, U.S. representative for Pennsylvania's 13th congressional district^[10]

Local officials

• Robert J. Dolan, mayor of Melrose, Massachusetts^[7]

Organizations

• EMILY's List^[11]
• Melrose Democratic City Committee^[9]
• Winchester Democratic Town Committee^[9]
• Women's Campaign Fund^[9]

Labor unions

• APWU Local 100^[9]
• IBEW Local 123^[9]
• IBEW Local 2222^[9]
• IBEW Local 2321^[9]
• International Association of Fire Fighters Melrose Local 1617, Executive Board^[9]
• Ironworkers Local 7^[9]
• NAGE/IBPO/SEIU Local 5000^[9]
• Teamsters Local 25 ^[9]
• United Steelworkers Union Local 12012^[9]

Newspapers

• The Boston Globe^[12]

Carl Sciortino

State officials

• Keith Ellison, U.S. representative for Minnesota's 5th congressional district^[13]
• Alan Grayson, U.S. representative for Florida's 9th congressional district^[14]
• Raúl Grijalva, U.S. representative for Arizona's 3rd congressional district^[13]
• Jared Polis, U.S. representative for Colorado's 2nd congressional district^[15]
• Mark Takano, U.S. representative for California's 41st congressional district^[15]

Organizations

• The Congressional Progressive Caucus^[13]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Will Brownsberger	Katherine Clark	Peter Koutoujian	Martin Long	Paul Maisano	Carl Sciortino	Karen Spilka	Undecided
Gerstein Bocian Agne*[16]	September 23–25, 2013	500	± 4.4%	12%	27%	16%	—	—	15%	18%	12%
GreenbergQuinlanRosner^[17]	September 22–24, 2013	400	± 4.9%	11%	19%	15%	—	—	11%	18%	26%
Emerson College[18]	September 13–17, 2013	310	± 4%	11.3%	23.9%	19%	1.3%	1%	5.2%	15.5%	22.6%
GreenbergQuinlanRosner^[19]	July 18–23, 2013	405	± 4.9%	11%	15%	12%	—	—	4%	14%	43%

• * Internal poll for Katherine Clark campaign
• ^ Internal poll for Karen Spilka campaign

Results

Democratic primary results by municipality

  Clark

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%

  Koutoujian

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   70–80%

  Sciortino

•   40–50%

  Brownsberger

•   60–70%

  Spilka

•   30–40%
•   40–50%
•   50–60%
•   60–70%
•   70–80%
•   80–90%

2013 Democratic primary results - Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Katherine Clark	21,959	31.5
	Democratic	Peter Koutoujian	15,290	21.9
	Democratic	Carl Sciortino	11,185	16.0
	Democratic	Will Brownsberger	10,142	14.6
	Democratic	Karen Spilka	9,057	13.0
	Democratic	Paul Masiano	1,498	2.2
	Democratic	Martin Long	394	0.6

Republican primary

Candidates

Declared

• Frank Addivinola, lawyer and candidate for the 5th congressional district in 2012^[21]
• Mike Stopa, physicist and candidate for Massachusetts's 3rd congressional district in 2010^[22]
• Tom Tierney, actuary and nominee for the 5th congressional district in 2012^[6]

Polling

Poll source	Date(s) administered	Sample size	Margin of error	Frank Addivinola	Mike Stopa	Tom Tierney	Undecided
Emerson College[18]	September 13–17, 2013	107	± 9%	13.1%	6.5%	24.3%	56.1%

Results

2013 Republican primary results - Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election^[20]

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Republican	Frank Addivinola	4,759	48.5
	Republican	Mike Stopa	2,477	25.3
	Republican	Tom Tierney	2,456	25.1

General election

Massachusetts's 5th congressional district special election, 2013

Party		Candidate	Votes	%
	Democratic	Katherine Clark	40,303	65.8
	Republican	Frank Addivinola	19,328	31.5
	Independent	James Aulenti	996	1.6
	Independent	James Hall	452	0.7
	Write-in		217	0.4
Total votes			61,380	100.0
	Democratic hold