EMILYs List Congratulates Rep. Lauren Underwood on Advancing to the General Election

For Immediate Release
June 28, 2022 

EMILYs List Congratulates Rep. Lauren Underwood on Advancing to the General Election

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Today EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, congratulates Rep. Lauren Underwood on advancing to the general election in her bid to continue to represent Illinois’ 14th Congressional District. EMILYs List President Laphonza Butler released the following statement:

“EMILYs List congratulates Rep. Lauren Underwood. At a time when our rights are under attack nationwide, Rep. Underwood exemplifies what it means to be a reproductive justice advocate: she has spent years working to improve access to quality reproductive health care. Underwood co-founded the Black Maternal Health Caucus, introduced the Momnibus Act in 2020, and is a staunch advocate for equal, continued abortion access. We are proud to stand with her in this fight, and remain committed to supporting her efforts to hold this critical seat in November.”

Lauren Underwood is a registered nurse with hands-on experience in our health care system who has dedicated her career to expanding all Americans’ access to quality, affordable care. President Obama appointed Underwood to serve as a senior advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, where she helped communities across the country prevent, prepare for, and respond to disasters, bioterror threats, and public health emergencies. Prior to her election to Congress, she worked for a Medicaid-managed health care plan in Chicago, helping clinical staff ensure the plan provides high-quality, cost-efficient care to Illinois families. Illinois’ 14th Congressional District had never before been represented by a woman or a Black representative in Congress until Underwood became the first with her historic 2018 victory. She lives in Naperville, Illinois — the community where she is proud to have grown up and attended public schools.

EMILYs List, the nation’s largest resource for women in politics, has raised over $700 million to elect Democratic pro-choice women candidates. With a grassroots community of over five million members, EMILY's List helps Democratic women win competitive campaigns – across the country and up and down the ballot – by recruiting and training candidates, supporting and helping build strong campaigns, researching the issues that impact women and families, running nearly $50 million in independent expenditures in the last cycle alone, and turning out women voters and voters of color to the polls. Since our founding in 1985, we have helped elect the country's first woman as vice president, 159 women to the House, 26 to the Senate, 16 governors, and more than 1,300 women to state and local office. More than 40% of the candidates EMILYs List has helped elect to Congress have been women of color. After the 2016 election, more than 60,000 women reached out to EMILY's List about running for office laying the groundwork for the next decade of candidates for local, state, and national offices. In our effort to elect more women in offices across the country, we have created our Run to Win program, expanded our training program, including a Training Center online, and trained thousands of women.