Colleagues of U.S. Rep. Lauren Underwood (D-14th) are apparently buying her campaign fabrication that she once worked as a practicing nurse.
In a February 27 article in the Washington Examiner on the threat of the coronavirus, Rep. Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.) said that consulting Underwood, whom he referred to as a nurse, “brings a perspective” to the threat of the virus that he “found helpful and constructive.”
The first-term congresswoman never saw patients in Illinois or anywhere else. She created the myth with a campaign ad showing her greeting a mother and her two children in what appears to be the reception area of a doctor’s office. Clipboard in hand, Underwood is sporting blue hospital scrubs and a stethoscope hangs around her neck.
She introduced herself in the commercial as "a registered nurse, treating patients …”
It was all staged. The spot was actually shot in a Naperville dentist’s office, White Eagle Dentistry, a few blocks from her parents’ home in the White Eagle Golf Club subdivision.
A casting call, advertised on Facebook, asked for “a few volunteers to join us for a photo shoot tomorrow (2/8) midday. Looking for friendly faces of all ages, genders, backgrounds. Please let us know by emailing sarah@underwoodforcongress.com.”
In another instance, she told Now This 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 according to her own biography, Underwood has never worked as a practicing nurse in a hospital, or in any setting where she would be discharging patients.
She has ignored repeated requests for a clarification of her work experience.
Underwood’s voting practices have also come into question. She used an absentee ballot to vote in the 2016 Democratic Primary in Illinois even though she was registered at the time to vote in Washington, D.C.
Seven Republicans are battling it out in a primary election March 17 for a shot to take on Underwood in November in the 14th, among them state Sen. Jim Oberweis, (R-Sugar Grove), and state Sen. Sue Rezin, (R-Morris).
In November 2018, Underwood defeated four-term Republican incumbent Randy Hultgren.
The 14th includes most of Kane County as well as parts of Kendall, DuPage, Lake, McHenry, Will and DeKalb counties.
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