“I learned to be a black woman in this community. This is my home, and the idea that i might not be a good fit is an idea I never gave a lot of consideration to.”

Let’s stop acting like this isn’t a major event.  Yesterday the House of Representatives swore in our newly elected officials and it looked like a good time.  Unlike some of our other legislative offices, the gathering looked like a colorful cornucopia of congressional excellence. Along with a record-setting amount of women sworn in, we can’t overlook that Rep. Lauren Underwood of Illinois became the youngest black woman in history sworn in to office.

That’s right Rep. Underwood is creating history assuring that her name will one day be recalled in history books as the youngest black woman to represent any state.  Even with this historical moment, Rep. Underwood’s achievement seems to have been looked over in major news outlets.  So here is what we should know about Illinois’ State Representative, Lauren Underwood.

Rep. Underwood in a 32-year-old Registered Nurse from Naperville, Illinois.  She earned her Masters from the prestigious Johns Hopkins University.  This is also not her first run in the political arena; she was a policy professional in the Obama administration in 2014.  She then went on to work at the Dept of Health and Human Services as a senior adviser, where she helped to implement the Affordable Care Act.

Rep. Underwood was able to to defeat Randy Hultgren, the republican candidate running against her on November 6 of 2018.  She ran a tight race and managed to earn 52.5 percent of the votes.  With her appointment, this means Democrats have a 13-5 advantage over Republicans in the Illinois delegation.

According to in interview with the New York Times, for Rep. Underwood, losing this race was not an option. She stated:

“I learned to be a black woman in this community. This is my home, and the idea that I might not be a good fit is an idea I never gave a lot of consideration to.”