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Full Name:
Lauren Underwood
What office are you seeking?
U.S. House of Representatives, IL-14
What is your political party?
Democrat
What is your current age?
37
Occupation and Employer:
Incumbent, U.S. House of Representatives
What offices, if any, have you previously held?
Incumbent, U.S. House of Representatives
City:
Campaign Website:
Education:
Congresswoman Underwood received her Bachelors in Nursing from the University of Michigan and a Masters of Science in Nursing and Masters of Public Health from Johns Hopkins University.
Community Involvement:
N/A
Marital Status/Immediate Family:
Single, no children.
Why are you running for office?
I have proudly served my district since I was first elected in 2018 when I pledged to my constituents that I would be the most accessible, transparent and accountable congresswoman this community had ever seen.
I am running to continue to bring resources to families across northern Illinois and ensure our shared values are reflected in Washington DC.
Ensuring access to high-quality, affordable health care remains my focus. Together, we’ve made great progress to lower out of pocket costs for families. For example, my legislation lowering the cost of health care coverage was signed into law and thanks to these new, low cost plans, in 2023, we saw the lowest number of uninsured Americans in U.S. history! We also secured $35 insulin for seniors and have finally allowed Medicare to negotiate prescription drug costs.
We have more work to do to reject MAGA extremism and lower costs for working families. I’m focused on growing the middle class, making our communities safer, and defending our fundamental freedoms.
Will you publicly condemn political violence and support a peaceful transition of power regardless of who wins the 2024 presidential election?
Political violence is never acceptable. In the U.S., we should be able to debate and discuss policy disagreements. The rising politically-motivated threats, intimidation and horrific acts are inconsistent with our shared values as Americans, and I fully reject all manifestations of political violence.
A peaceful transition of power is the hallmark of American democracy and I will certainly do my part to facilitate a peaceful transition no matter who wins the 2024 presidential election.
How would you vote on a national abortion ban bill? And why?
I support the unrestricted right to the full range of reproductive health care services, which includes access to safe, legal and affordable abortion care. And in Congress, I have voted to protect our reproductive freedom. The stakes could not be higher because Extreme Republicans promise to pass a federal abortion ban, blocking the protections Illinois has already put in place. These extremists have published their plans in Trump’s Project 2025, a manifesto that outlines their policy proposals to ban abortion, ban contraception and even ban fertility services like IVF. When enforcing these bans, the MAGA extremists want to control and punish women, no matter what state they live in.
My opponent, Jim Marter, refuses to condemn a nationwide abortion ban and doesn’t support any exceptions. He refuses to speak up for women seeking live-saving health care. He believes his faith should dictate when and how the American people can start and grow their families. We cannot let him win.
Should Congress act to ensure fertility treatments, like IVF, remain available in the future? Do you believe those treatments are under threat?
There is no doubt that reproductive freedom is under threat from extreme MAGA republicans who want to control women. After the Supreme Court’s devastating 2022 Dobbs decision, states across the country began advancing policies to limit access to fertility services like IVF. This made national news when Alabama became the first state to completely eliminate access to this essential healthcare service earlier this year.
Access to fertility services like IVF remain under threat due to Trump’s Project 2025, which includes dangerous “personhood” language that would ban fertility services like IVF nationwide. Since Illinois has a new law to require coverage of infertility treatment, a nationwide ban may seem farfetched. But it could happen if Trump takes office, and he would erase all the progress we have made.
Therefore, Congress must act swiftly to ensure nationwide access to fertility services like IVF are protected. Services like IVF should be affordable and covered by health plans. Providers should not be faced with criminal prosecution and jail time for doing their jobs and helping patients and families.
What programs are you in favor of that could make home-buying more affordable for first-time homebuyers?
Lowering costs for working families means we must address the rising costs of housing across northern Illinois. The cost of rent, and purchasing a home has risen out of reach for too many people and I support legislation to increase affordable housing in our community, offer financial incentives and downpayment assistance to purchase homes and reform the way property taxes are deducted from federal taxes.
First-time homebuyers often struggle with high interest rates, driving up borrowing costs. I am happy to see the Fed taking action to reduce interest rates for American consumers. Programs to offer downpayment assistance, whether as a grant or tax credit, are an important part of ensuring that all Americans can build wealth through homeownership and is a key piece of my work as a member of the Congressional Black Caucus to grow economic opportunity for working families.
Many local communities have or are considering “public camping” ordinances to prevent homeless encampments. What steps would you take to ensure everyone has access to shelter?
In Congress, I have consistently supported legislation to help Americans experiencing housing instability, and have secured resources to assist local agencies as they serve greater numbers of individuals across northern Illinois. Most recently, I have been working with Illinois Valley Public Action to Deliver Shelter (PADS) to secure a $1.25 million grant to build a new 11,000 sq. ft. shelter in Ottawa. Illinois Valley PADS has continued to offer services to a growing number of clients in our community and is seeking to double the size of their shelter. I am proud to support organizations that help those in need of clean, safe shelter in IL-14.
What can be done legislatively to reduce gun violence/prevent school shootings? Is it addressing mental health, gun control, arming teachers, increased school security?
No child should fear for their life at school. No worker should fear a mass shooting at their job. Weapons of war don’t belong in our neighborhoods. Gun violence prevention is a public health issue, and Congress must respond accordingly with data-driven, evidence-based policies.
First, we need universal background checks for all gun sales. The current system includes loopholes that make it easy for people with criminal records and dangerous mental illness to buy guns. I have also supported legislation to advance Extreme Risk Protection Orders (also known as “red-flag laws”) like those on the books here in Illinois, to temporarily remove access to firearms for those who are deemed a danger to themselves or others by a federal court. To keep our communities safe, we must also ban bump stocks, ghost guns and assault weapons.
I’m proud of the progress we’ve made to treat gun violence like the epidemic that it truly is. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and National Institutes of Health are now able to study the impact of gun violence in our communities. Under the leadership of Vice President Kamala Harris, the new White House Office on Gun Violence Prevention is working on additional policy changes that will save lives.
However, gun violence is now the leading cause of death of children across the U.S. We have an obligation to keep them safe and reduce these deaths. We must not become numb to the horrific frequency of mass shootings and acts of gun violence in our communities. We must honor the victims and survivors with action to save lives. In 2022, after the tragedy in Uvalde, TX, I voted for the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act, the most significant gun violence prevention law in nearly 30 years. This new law disarms domestic abusers and cracks down on gun trafficking and straw purchasing. I will continue to take action to protect our kids and our communities from senseless gun violence.
Congressional positions allow a certain amount of money earmarked to local projects: What local projects would you support?
In Congress, I am honored to serve on the Appropriations Committee, where we fund key programs to help families across northern Illinois. I work hard with my colleagues across the aisle to make sure our community’s priorities are reflected in federal funding bills.
Since 2022, we have been able to request direct funding for specific projects that benefit our communities in northern Illinois. I have successfully secured nearly $100 million to support a wide range of projects – ensuring access to safe and reliable drinking water, strengthening rural access to health care, preventing workplace exploitation, helping residents get jobs, providing vulnerable populations access to necessities like shelter and food and supporting parent-students by providing affordable child care options in northern Illinois.
This May, I announced the 15 projects selected for FY2025 funding. To highlight a few:
- $600,000 to support the creation of a new Center for Parenting Students at Waubonsee Community College. The center will provide crucial support for student parents, helping them balance their academic pursuits with child care.
- $5 million to help the Grand Prairie Water Commission secure clean, safe drinking water for our 14th District communities of Joliet, Shorewood, Minooka, Romeoville and Crest Hill.
- About $1.3 million to expand health care services at the Community Health Partnership of Illinois Mendota Health Center. This essential project supports our rural health system in the Illinois Valley.
What should be done legislatively to secure the southern border?
Since our America’s founding, immigrants have been vital to our cultural vibrancy and economic success. Our immigration system must honor and recognize the value and dignity of all of our immigrant communities.
This current system is deeply broken – we need comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders, protects our workers, unites families and offers hardworking immigrants a pathway to citizenship. Comprehensive immigration reform will strengthen and grow our economy, update an asylum program that has been inundated with applicants, and invest in border security solutions that will keep Americans safe from transnational criminal organizations and terrorist threats.
Since our America’s founding, immigrants have been vital to our cultural vibrancy and economic success. Our immigration system must honor and recognize the value and dignity of all of our immigrant communities.This current system is deeply broken – we need comprehensive immigration reform that secures our borders, protects our workers, unites families and offers hardworking immigrants a pathway to citizenship. Comprehensive immigration reform will strengthen and grow our economy, update an asylum program that has been inundated with applicants, and invest in border security solutions that will keep Americans safe from transnational criminal organizations and terrorist threats.In Congress, I’ve supported bipartisan legislation to protect and provide a pathway to citizenship for immigrants who spent most of their lives in the U.S. I voted for bipartisan immigration legislation that modernizes and streamlines our nation’s temporary agricultural program to ensure business across northern Illinois have access to the experienced workers they need so that food prices won’t continue to rise. Undoubtedly bills like the Dream and Promise Act and the Farm Worker Modernization Act will offer relief to families, workers and small business owners across the 14th District. But our immigration policies must work for all of us – and to do that we need to enact comprehensive immigration reforms, like those outlined in the U.S. Citizenship Act, which will improve border security and improve our immigration system, offering clarity, efficiency and better facilitate trade and commerce.
As of this spring, I serve as the top democrat on the Homeland Security Subcommittee of the House Appropriations Committee. As an Appropriator, I have proudly worked with colleagues across the aisle to advance necessary federal funding to secure the border – and we have been able to get these funding bills signed into law, despite the daily chaos of MAGA extremism in the House of Representatives and the complete dysfunction in the U.S. Senate. In fact, we have reached bipartisan agreement and secured significant increases in funding to support border security operations every year. Our bipartisan success in appropriations is how I know that it is possible to get comprehensive immigration reform across the finish line – we can do it!
I firmly believe that bipartisan progress is possible – despite the despicable partisan power play initiated by Former President Trump and implemented by Speaker Mike Johnson earlier this year. Their actions preventing the advancement of the tough senate bipartisan border security bill reflects the worst of our current political environment. It’s inexcusable. Playing politics with the border, denying the American people the reforms we all know are needed, and underfunding border operations is not leadership. We can and must do better. Since our America’s founding, immigrants have been vital to our cultural vibrancy and economic success. Our immigration system must honor and recognize the value and dignity of all of our immigrant communities.
In your capacity as a private citizen, have you or any business entity in which you have a ownership stake received a federal PPP loan? If so, what was the amount and is it repaid, forgiven or still outstanding?
No.
Have you ever been convicted of or charged with a crime?
No.
What is your position on open, transparent government?
In his great Gettysburg Address, President Abraham Lincoln reminded us that in the U.S., we have a government that is “of the people, by the people, for the people”. It has been a true honor to serve the people of Illinois 14 Congressional District since January 3, 2019. When I was first sworn in, I pledged to be the most accessible, transparent and responsive representative this community had ever seen. I continue to host regular open town hall meetings, where we dialogue about key issues and concerns. I have hosted over 55 town halls since I was first elected. I continue to host office hours to meet with constituents on a one-on-one basis and I convene regional and youth advisory councils to advise me on emerging policy issues. Hearing directly from constituents informs my work in congress – it inspires the legislation I write, and the problems I work to solve.
We have many important challenges to tackle as we work together to become a more perfect union. I hope to continue to work with you as your U.S. Representative.