He isn’t precisely Paz, often known as the Pazmanian Satan.
That might be boxer Vinny Paz or Vinny Pazienza, a troublesome fighter out of Rhode Island who within the eighties and nineties fought his strategy to the highest of the battle recreation, incomes two championship titles.
Paz was so robust that he was known as the Pazmanian Satan as a result of within the ring he fought with the fierce and fearless tenacity of the Tasmanian Satan, a carnivorous marsupial, that roams the island of Tasmania off the Australian Coast.
Paz fought 60 fights, successful 50, 30 by knockout. He was so robust that he made a comeback after carrying a screwed-on neck Halo for 3 months following a neck breaking automotive crash.
However no. Our Paz isn’t any relation to Paz, the Pazmanian Satan.
Our Paz is Jonathan Paz, a former Waltham metropolis councilor who’s working within the upcoming Democrat major towards incumbent fellow Democrat U.S. Rep Katherine Clark, 64, of Revere within the fifth Congressional District.
For openers, if Jonathan Paz, who’s to the left of Clark (if that’s potential) has any likelihood of defeating the veteran Clark, he must battle the way in which the Pazmanian Satan fought, which is ferociously, holding nothing again.
Born in Boston, our Paz spent his early years in Bolivia, the place his mother and father got here from, retuning to Massachusetts as a toddler. He remembers his father being deported and as an grownup, he has been energetic in defending immigrants from ICE deportation raids.
Now he has a tall and presumably unimaginable process in entrance of him.
However who is aware of? It’s early within the 2026 mid-term election. Something can occur in these political risky instances as New York Metropolis Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani can attest.
And it has been years since Clark, a one-time member of the Massachusetts Legislature, has confronted a severe problem since assuming the Congressional seat in 2013.
That was when she gained a particular election to fill the U.S. Home seat vacated by then Rep. Eddie Markey who was working for the U.S. Senate to interchange the change John Kerry upon Kerry’s appointment as Secretary of State.
Clark, then a comparatively unknown member of the Massachusetts state Senate, beat out Middlesex County Sheriff Peter Koutoujian and fellow state Sen. Karen Spilka, now Senate president, within the Democrat major. She has been re-elected ever since.
The district borders the North Shore’ sixth Congressional district the place one other Democrat major is shaping as much as change Rep. Seth Moulton of Salem. Moulton is working towards Markey for the U.S. Senate within the Democrat major.
Clark’s fifth district consists of some 22 communities, principally in Middlesex County. They embrace Waltham, Watertown, Medford, Malden, Melrose, Arlington and Lexington.
Whereas not ignoring her constituents, Clark has efficiently performed the within political recreation within the Home by attaching herself to the Democrat Social gathering management, first with former Home Speaker Nancy Pelosi after which to Minority Chief Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
She has now risen to the purpose that she is second in command to Jeffries.
Apparently, Jeffries additionally confronted a major problem from the left from one-time Mamdani ally Chi Osse, a New York Metropolis Councilman. Nonetheless, Osse pulled out of the race as a favor to Jeffries after Mamdani deserted him.
There’s a lot at stake for Clark—and for Massachusetts.
Ought to the Democrats takeover the Home in 2026, which is feasible, Jeffries would turn out to be Speaker of the Home and Clark would turn out to be majority chief and be in a direct successor to Jeffries as Speaker.
The final Speaker of the Home from Massachusetts was Home Speaker Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill (1977-1987) of Cambridge.
He was a robust determine in Washington for a few years and did so much for the state. Regardless of his nationwide significance, he by no means forgot the place he got here from or the individuals he represented.
He coined the phrase, “All politics is native.”
Clark might want to keep in mind that.
Veteran political reporter Peter Lucas might be reached at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com.
