He succeeded a political ally, John B. Kelly, who had been appointed national physical fitness director.
[7] Democratic leaders wanted a candidate from Eastern Pennsylvania to be the party nominee in the 1944 United States Senate election.
In that same election, Philadelphia Democrats won all six of the city's seats in the United States House of Representatives and returned a strong delegation to the Pennsylvania General Assembly.
The city also gave President Franklin Delano Roosevelt a 130,000 vote majority, which helped him carry the state of Pennsylvania.
The success of Clark's candidates in the 1944 election led Robert Taylor of The Pittsburgh Press to put him on par with the two major Democratic leaders in the state; U.S.
[9][10] In 1950, Clark offered to donate $25,000 to charity if Republican James H. Duff debated his opponent in that year's United States Senate election, Francis J. Myers.
[2] In 1952, Clark, a supporter of Estes Kefauver, led an unsuccessful attempt to remove city committee chairman James A. Finnegan, who backed Adlai Stevenson.
[12] In 1961, Clark fought against a bill in the Pennsylvania General Assembly that would ease restrictions on the size of trailers allowed on highways.
[12] Clark left his estate, which included Highway Express Lines and his shares in the Philadelphia Eagles and the Liberty Bell Racing Association, to his wife, Margaret, and niece, Marie O'Neill, whom he raised from the age of nine.