Clark S. Gruening (/ˈɡriːnɪŋ/ GREEN-ing; born March 28, 1943)[1] is an attorney and Democratic Party politician from the U.S. state of Alaska.

He is chiefly known as the second of three persons to defeat the incumbent holder of Alaska's Class 3 United States Senate seat in the primary election.

[1] Gruening, an attorney outside politics, was elected to two terms in the Alaska House of Representatives starting in 1974.

Specifically, it was felt that Republicans and supporters of Frank Murkowski voted in large numbers for Gruening in hopes of eliminating Gravel.

Extremely unpopular with Alaskan voters at the time, Gravel nonetheless was felt to pose a more serious challenge to Murkowski, largely on account of his incumbency.