Kane County Reporter

Just seven months in office, U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL 14) already has a small army of Republican challengers lining up to take her on in the 14th congressional district in 2020. The high interest in the seat by the GOP is in part predictable. The freshman Democrat represents a traditionally Republican district, one that went for President Donald Trump over Hillary Clinton in 2016. Trump, of course, will be running again when Underwood is up for re-election in 2020.

But the Naperville native, who defeated four-term Republican Randy Hultgren in a midterm blue wave, may have also elevated GOP chances to recapture the seat by associating with far left members of the House. Underwood recently became a member of “The Squad,” a group of socialists who are giving their own Democratic Caucus fits over their provocative statements on immigration and extreme positions, such as outlawing private health care insurance. One member of the club, Ilhan Omar of Minnesota, has said that Americans should be more fearful of white men than jihadist terrorism.

Underwood recently doubled down on joining up with her like-minded colleagues.

U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-IL 14th District) | underwoodforcongress.com

“The women, progressive women who are so boldly speaking out, we’re not going anywhere,” she said in a July 23 MSNBC interview.

National Journal’s political editor, Josh Kraushaar, pointed out in Twitter post that the statement was doubly bold for her to make.

“Underwood, unlike the Squad, represents a district Trump won (by 4 pts),” he tweeted.

Back in May, Underwood was banned from talking at a House Homeland Security Committee hearing after she got into a heated exchanged with Acting Homeland Security Director Kevin McAleenan. She parroted Squad leader Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in blaming the Trump administration for the deaths of migrant children at border detention centers – even calling the deaths intentional.

 “… you can bet the committee exchange will surface during her re-election battle next year,” wrote former News-Sun reporter Charles Selle in a commentary published by the Tribune. “Already, a number of Republican opponents have surfaced, and there will be more to duke it out in the March GOP primary hoping to square off with Underwood in November 2020.”

Her mentor in Congress is Illinois’ own Jan Schakowsky, who was once characterized by the non-partisan legislative tracking service GovTrack.us as the most left-wing member in all of Congress. Accordingly, VoteView has ranked Underwood as having the most liberal voting record in the House.

Even before raising her hand to take the oath of office in January, Underwood was piling up problems back home. As first reported in the Kane County Reporter, she falsely presented herself to voters during the campaign as a practicing nurse. She even told NowThis Politics, that “as a nurse, I have looked into my patients’ eyes when giving discharge instructions knowing they cannot afford the prescription that we’re handing to them.” But she never practiced as a nurse in Illinois or anywhere else.

The news stories about her faking her nursing career, and some teasing from the National Republican Congressional Committee, embarrassed her into not listing any reference to a career as a practicing nurse under the “About” section of her congressional website.

Finally, she was caught voting illegally in the 2016 Illinois primary. At the time, she was living and registered to vote in Washington, D.C. Underwood’s office never returned numerous requests for comment from the Kane County Reporter on her nursing career and voting history.

Thus far, former Notre Dame football player Ted Gradel of Naperville, state Sen. Jim Oberweis of Sugar Grove, Anthony Catella of St. Charles and Danny Malouf of Woodstock have announced they are running on the Republican side. In addition, state Rep. Allen Skillicorn of East Dundee is reportedly considering a bid.

The 14th includes most of Kane County as well as parts of Kendall, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Will and DeKalb counties.