A Better Vision for Congress | Lauren Underwood
The 2018 midterm election brought our government a slate of new faces. Some of them more notable than others, all constituted the most decisive and influential freshman class of congressmen and women this country had seen in decades. While her other freshman colleagues, the likes of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and Ilhan Omar received much credit for ambitious (yet unpassed) legislation, vividly captured protests, and the ever-elusive aura of rebellion from the status quo, stealing much of the spotlight, the national fandom, and the media coverage, Lauren Underwood, US Representative from Illinois’ 14th congressional district, worked away, understanding the necessity of bipartisan cooperation and, yes, compromise in order to actually pass the legislation that her constituents sent her there to pass.
It is overwhelmingly obvious that her goal being in the House is not to gain popularity, power, wealth, or influence. You’ll never see Lauren Underwood screaming or wagging her fist on MSNBC or at a hip rally for Bernie Sanders, but if you had spent enough time on capitol hill before the pandemic, you would have noticed her, working diligently in the background to achieve affordable healthcare — especially for those with preexisting conditions, an end to what she, in her 2018 campaign, called the “epidemic of gun violence” in this country, and increases in access to quality education for America’s young people. These are the goals all democrats in Congress claim to support, yet as the congressional approval rating stands at 30 percent (its highest since 2009), Underwood emerges as one of the few representatives whose actions exemplify what an ideal politician should be and should do.
But wait, there’s more! As a registered nurse she’s been one of the few competent voices on the floor of the House during this pandemic. She chose not to use this time, as many Democrats did, to further some preconceived political agenda or to, as many Republicans did, spend this time further neglecting the disproportionately affected black, brown, and working-class families caught is a system that is woefully underprepared and was rigged against them to begin with. Her objective was clear, fight for the average people, the small business owners: her constituents. She took initiative and secured nearly $50 million for community colleges and universities in her district in the first CARES package and intends to do more in the next. This is precisely the type of leadership we need in Washington.
I’ve been a vocal supporter of Pete Buttigieg who recently endorsed Underwood along with Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney, Representative Anthony Brown, and 19 others through his new Political Action Committee named Win The Era, an homage to his 2020 campaign slogan. During his campaign, unlike most other politicians, I knew I could look to him as someone who would always speak the truth regardless if it was politically expedient, always listen to others regardless of if they agreed on the issues, and always support the policies he (and I) cared about regardless of whether it aligned with the party platform. I see the same thing in Lauren Underwood, an honest, humble, and hard-working public servant with the knowledge and the charisma to go all the way.
