Kane County Reporter

The Democratic caucus in the U.S. House is about to lose what its leadership considered a rising star, and Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville) is about to lose a Washington D.C. roommate.

Since January, Underwood, a first-term representative, has been rooming in the nation's capital with Rep. Katie Hill (D-Ca.), another first termer, who announced on Sunday that she will resign in the face of an investigation by the House Ethics Committee over allegations of an affair with one of her Capitol Hill staffers.

In February, Underwood glowed about her living relationship with Hill.

Rep. Katie Hill (D-Ca.)

“We have a great time at the apartment,” Underwood said in a wide-ranging interview on AM to DM, a morning BuzzFeed News show.

The openly bisexual Hill, 32, denied the affair with the male staffer but did admit to one with a former campaign staffer, a female. Multiple reports said that she, the campaign worker, and Hill’s husband Kenny Heslep were a “throuple.” Hill blamed her “abusive” husband for incriminating photos and texts published by some news outlets. They are in the process of getting divorced.

Hill set no date for leaving office, but reports cited sources saying that the resignation will likely become official on November 1. The Ethics Committee would have almost certainly reached out to Underwood about the alleged affair; it investigates such allegations under a House resolution approved in February 2018 that bans members from engaging in affairs with subordinates.

The Hill scandal has exposed the left’s #MeToo hypocrisy, wrote the New York’s Post Miranda Devine in a Monday column.

“The same people who demonized males for far less gave Hill a free pass for her egregious abuse of power,” Devine wrote.  

“Hill is innocent until proven guilty,” she continued. “But, of course, that is a right she did not afford Justice Brett Kavanaugh when she was branding him a ‘serial predator.’”

Underwood, 33, the youngest black woman ever elected to Congress, has had her share of missteps. In her campaign against four-term Republican Randy Hultgren in the 14th district, she falsely presented herself to voters as a practicing nurse. She 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.” She never practiced as a nurse in Illinois or anywhere else.

In addition, she voted in the 2016 Illinois primary when she was registered to vote in Washington, D.C.

Underwood recently became a member of “The Squad,” a group of socialist House members who are giving their own 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.  

The Republicans and Democrats both view Underwood’s seat as vulnerable. Four have entered the Republican primary in the 14th for a chance to take on Underwood next November. Wheaton business owner Jerry Evans is the most recent to enter the race.