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The truth is, these are not very bright guys, and things got out of hand.

If you tweet it in all caps, that makes it true!

People really shouldn’t expect the government to help after they watched the GOP drown it in a bathtub.

This has so much WTF written all over it that it is hard to comprehend.

Insiders who complain to politico: please report to the white house office of shut the fuck up.

Dear media: perhaps we ought to let Donald Trump speak for himself!

I really should read my own blog.

Usually wrong but never in doubt

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Lick the third rail, it tastes like chocolate!

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It may be funny to you motherfucker, but it’s not funny to me.

Nancy smash is sick of your bullshit.

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Optimism opens the door to great things.

I’d hate to be the candidate who lost to this guy.

This chaos was totally avoidable.

The fundamental promise of conservatism all over the world is a return to an idealized past that never existed.

A sufficient plurality of insane, greedy people can tank any democratic system ever devised, apparently.

‘Museums aren’t America’s attic for its racist shit.’

Fear or fury? The choice is ours.

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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Rising Democratic Stars: Rep. Lauren Underwood

Rising Democratic Stars: Rep. Lauren Underwood

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I owe some commentor a hat tip for this. Ruby Cramer, at the Washington Post (unpaywalled / gift link) — “As a single Black woman in the House, the 36-year-old Illinois Democrat tries to balance who she is versus what she does “:

… Lauren Underwood was here to do the job, and today, on a Friday at 11 p.m., the job was to sit in the House chamber and to wait, alert, present, attentive, for her name to be called near the end of the alphabet. So that’s what she did. She had her navy-blue blanket draped over her legs. She had cough drops and hard candy in her bag. Underwood came 405th in line, about 40 minutes into each roll call, after four Johnsons, four Smiths, three Thompsons and two Torreses. Fourteen rounds of votes and still no speaker of the House. Four days of anxiety and confusion, waiting to be sworn in. It occurred to her early on that week that the world was watching, and that Congress was not exactly putting its best foot forward. There was a grimness haunting the place. It was not a happy scene. Underwood scrolled through text messages on her phone. Across the aisle sat the new Republican majority. She heard murmurs. Then she heard yelling. The word “combustible” came to mind. She turned and saw two colleagues about to lay hands on one another — an almost-fight breaking out in the House chamber. Was she surprised? After four years in this job, no, not really. She looked back down at her phone and fired off a skull emoji to her sister. One more vote and then she could begin her third term in Congress.

And all that was fine, because Lauren Underwood had given a lot to be here. So had everybody in the room, of course. This job, being a member of Congress, was not supposed to be easy. They were America’s public servants. Some of them were famous for it. Most were not. Some put in the work, striving beyond the bare minimum. Some did not. All of them had done what was required to survive, to win a campaign, to secure their seats, to be one of 435. But Lauren Underwood had given something different. There were a lot of women like her. But she didn’t see many in Congress.

The truth is, she loved her job. She believed she was good at it, too. She’d had 14 pieces of legislation signed into law under Presidents Trump and Biden. She was going to serve in a House leadership role now — the first Black woman elected by her colleagues since Shirley Chisholm in 1977 — as co-chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee. She’d kept her head down and she had worked. Going viral, she had learned, was overrated. If anything, she had dialed back her personal online presence over the past four years. It only invited hostility, an ugly darkness. She’d come into Congress with the Class of 2018, part of that big blue wave of young, diverse women who promised to block Trump and change the way things work in Washington. Underwood, a registered nurse from the Chicago suburbs, wanted to make the health-care system better. She was 30 years old, just a “regular person,” she said, when she gave up her career to run for office. She was 32 when she became the youngest Black woman elected to Congress. That first week here, four years ago this January, had been so busy, so full of possibility. Everything was new. She remembers wanting to work with her colleagues in “this really sweet, optimistic way.” She remembers searching the halls for a “Republican bestie,” a fellow member of Congress who could be her partner on meaningful health-care legislation. But that was before two impeachments, before Jan. 6, 2021, before she knew the job. Now, she was less candid, less trusting, more aggressive about managing her time. Now, she knew that people would waste your time here, if you let them. Now, she knew that some Democrats and Republicans avoided eye contact when they crossed paths in the halls.

She also knew that to keep the job, she had to be perfect. She couldn’t mess up. And so she didn’t. Early on that week, when she learned that her assigned seat with the Democratic leadership team would be in view of a C-SPAN camera, she was vigilant, careful to be seen paying attention. She was seated on the aisle, across from the Republicans — the confrontation between Reps. Matt Gaetz and Mike D. Rogers just a few rows behind. Her district, Illinois’s 14th, about an hour outside of Chicago, was competitive. The seat had once belonged to a Republican giant, the former House speaker of eight years, Dennis Hastert. Now it was Underwood’s to lose. She’d won it by five points in 2018. Two years later, the margin shrunk to 1.4 — a difference of about 5,000 votes. Her opponent had refused to accept defeat. He’d even flown to D.C. for freshman orientation. Three times now, always by single-digit margins, Underwood had fought to hold on to her place in Congress — and she’d done it, she said, “in a really serious way, in an all-consuming way, in a no-days-off kind of way.” Which meant raising money, lots and lots of money, and then turning around and doing it all over again. Every day felt like an “opportunity for the whole thing to implode.” It was like a war, and there were land mines everywhere. “And you just can’t step on any, but you’re seeing them explode all around you.” It had been that way since 2018.

But she was 36 years old now. She was single. She wanted kids. She dated, but life with a member of Congress, she knew, was “not for everyone.” Like a lot of women, she had mapped out what it would mean to raise a child on her own. She had researched the costs of fertility treatments, the timeline she’d need to follow, the financial reality of paying for full-time child care on top of not just one home, in Illinois, but also an apartment in Washington, on a salary of $174,000. Like a lot of women her age, Underwood said, she had health complications that put her “firmly, permanently,” in a “high, high, high risk category” for pregnancy. She knew all the data, all the risks, in part because she had made Black maternal health her signature legislation in Congress. Like a lot of women, Underwood had made sacrifices for her work.

“And that’s fine for now,” she’d remind herself.

It was an active choice to be here, sitting in the chamber at 11 p.m. on a Friday, as her Republican colleagues prepared for the 15th time to elect a new speaker. But it wasn’t always an easy choice…

Seriously —read the whole thing!

Reader Interactions

48Comments

  3. 3.

    Dangerman

    Kinda got into it with a MAGAt today. I almost never say a word to their bullshit (as y’all know, it’s pointless) but … I just couldn’t squelch it fast enough:

    Them: “Silicon Valley Bank went broke because it was too woke”.

    Me: (well, you can guess, it was short and not sweet and I beat feet outta there).

    How the fuck does woke cause a bank run? Seems to me a bank run is a whole buncha fairly well off, kinda stupid Folk (i.e. liquid assets more than 250k in one institution) all shitting their pants at the same time. Where does woke fit in?

    Damn, but “woke” must poll well for them. They can’t define it but they are sure running with it.

  5. 5.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I envy your son!* I hope he knows what a gem of a Representative he has in Congresswoman Underwood.

    *ETA: Although I am very happy with my own Representative, Congresswoman Lucy McBath.

  7. 7.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    I think I’ve mentioned that I was born and grew up in Oak Park. Had I never set off to seek my fortune moved away, I’d be represented by the venerable Danny Davis.

  9. 9.

    twbrandt

    @Dangerman: I’ve seen that too, from pols and talk show hosts who wouldn’t know a balance sheet from a flyswatter. No one who actually knows about banking and are familiar with the SVB collapse say that. It’s insane.

  10. 10.

    Parfigliano

    @Dangerman: its “woke” because the media is gonna tell it that way.  Hi Chuck Toddler.

    The powers that be want fascism and are betting heavy that said fascism ends in not them getting Italian Dictatored

  11. 11.

    MisterForkbeard

    @Dangerman: The stupidest thing is that they’re calling SVB ‘woke’ because they have DE&I initiatives, like every major company in the US. And those initiatives are generally toothless – you take a 30 minute course every two years on how unconscious bias works, and you tell your recruiters to try and bring you diverse candidates.

    Sometimes, you even do things like ask your recruiters “did you think about recruiting this women’s tech conference?”

    Horrible stuff, I know. Clearly enough to make a major bank fail.

  12. 12.

    japa21

    Underwood is one of those rising stars who is smart enough to know that work not notoriety will get you places and get things done. Pelosi took her under her wing early on and mentored her. In fact, virtually every rising star in the House was/is guided by Pelosi. Pelosi knew that we couldn’t keep the old guard forever and has been molding the next generation of leaders for a while.

  14. 14.

    Geminid

    I remember sweating out Lauren Underwood’s reelection in 2020. Her race wasn’t called in her favor until 4 or 5 days after Election Day.

    Some of her promising colleagues who had also flipped seats in 2018, like Kendra Horn (OK), Joe Cunninham (SC) and Xochitl Torres Small (NM), lost and it was a relief when Rep. Underwood squeaked by

    Fun fact: Underwood’s opponent in 2020, dairy magnate Jim Oberweis, was part of the House Republicans’ special “Young Guns” program. Oberweis was 71 years old at the time.

  15. 15.

    japa21

    @Dangerman:  Next time point out that from 2014 to present there have been 49 bank failures.  Bank failures is not an uncommon thing.  Usually they are smaller banks.  The reason this one made the news is that it was the largest since 2008.

  16. 16.

    jackmac

    Proud to have her as my representative.

    Here’s a tip to the D.C. media: how about more stories about THIS Lauren rather than that Idiot Lauren from Colorado.

  17. 17.

    Anoniminous

    @japa21:

    And it is connected to the PayPal Mafia: Thiel, Musk, etc.

    Apparently it was Thiel who started the run on the bank when he withdrew his Founder’s Fund monies.

  19. 19.

    Princess

    She’s great. She’s managed to get elected three times in what is effectively a Republican district. No one should underestimate that accomplishment.

  20. 20.

    Dangerman

    @Ladyraxterinok: Top story on Redstate when I looked about an hour ago (I know, not good for my mental health, but I was curious if they were bitching about SVB) was about diversity in the military. Damn, will the MAGAt’s just all wear white sheets (remember: extra bleach) so they can be more easily identified? Then I can keep my distance and minimize my use of F bombs. Make my Momma happy.

  22. 22.

    KayInMD (formerly Kay (not the front-pager))

    @Dangerman:

    Damn, but “woke” must poll well for them.

    The funny thing is, it doesn’t poll well for them. ‘Woke has mostly positive connotations with ~ 60% of Americans.

    I love Lauren Underwood. I’ve followed her since she first came on the scene back in the 2018 election cycle, donating whenever I could. She just seems so levelheaded.

    On top of everything else, her beautiful smile just immediately makes me feel at peace.

  23. 23.

    Geminid

    @japa21: Lauren Undereood is unusual in that unlike most House Democrats, she has not joined any of the “ideological” caucuses- Progressive, New Democrat or Blue Dog. I think Joyce Beatty of Ohio is also unaffiliated. They’re in other caucuses, just not those three.

    The other Co-Chairs of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee are also members of the Class of 2018. Dean Phillips flipped a suburban Minnesota district that year, while Veronica Escobar was elected to Beto O’Rourke’s El Paso seat.

    Before that, Ms. Escobar had been El Paso County Judge and is a long-time political ally of O’Rourke. Her Wikipedia biography is quite interesting.

  30. 30.

    Frankensteinbeck

    @Dangerman: ​

    Damn, but “woke” must poll well for them. They can’t define it but they are sure running with it.

    They know exactly what it means, and use it consistently: It means anti-bigotry. They think the word sounds silly, so they use it relentlessly, elementary school kids with a new taunt. They vent their hate while believing it makes them sound like the cool kids instead of the dumbass bigots they know everyone outside their circle thinks of them as. Think ‘Let’s Go Brandon’.
    DeSantis is a one trick pony, and that trick is theatrical stunts to appeal to hardcore bigots. He will say that any failure of anything is due to tolerance, to ‘woke’, and really he’s just parroting his base’s belief back at them.

  31. 31.

    Elizabelle

    @Geminid:  Truly.

    “Woke banks.”

    I ever hear that from someone in real life, I am just going to be thinking “you poor thing.  Cannot do your own thinking; just repeat what you hear.”

    Depending on who says it, might say it out loud.  Good for them to know that not everyone is in the bubble.

  32. 32.

    Mai Naem mobile

    @Dangerman: you should have told them to Google SVB’s leadership. They’re so woke they’re all white. All except one are male. In an industry with a ton of south asians they couldn’t find one south Asian to be in their leadership. In a geographic area with a ton of Southeast Asians they couldn’t find one single Southeast Asian to be in their leadership. That’s some woke bank you have there.

  34. 34.

    prostratedragon

    @SiubhanDuinne:  A case study in gerrymandering: I’m over near MLKing Dr. and Pershing Rd.,  and until 2022 Davis was my Rep. The latest boundaries have me back in the old 1st  (Jon. Jackson), which makes a lot more sense.

  35. 35.

    prostratedragon

    @Princess:  Yes, she was impressive from the start for being able to pull that off at all, let alone without making horrible compromises for a Democrat. The latest redraw pulls the district closer to Joliet, which gives her a tiny bit more breathing room.

  36. 36.

    Another Scott

    It looks to be a quiet day tomorrow when the bank trading starts. FDIC has stepped in (as expected).

    “… fully protects all depositors…”

    I guess we’re not going to call this a bailout, but if you read this closely it looks like the all in guys can relax. https://t.co/ga1kJc63pH

    — southpaw (@nycsouthpaw) March 12, 2023

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  38. 38.

    JPL

    @Another Scott: Not if trump can help it.   He’s riling up his base.   The news won’t let it go also

    Etsy would be affected if the bailout didn’t occur.  That’s a lot of small business people and I think the action was warranted.  Now arrest Peter Thiel for trying to tank the bank.

  40. 40.

    Elizabelle

    @JPL:   Yes.  I hope Peter Thiel faces some jeopardy over starting a bank run.  Insider information??

    Also, re the blogpost topic:  very proud to have Lauren Underwood on Team Democrat.  It’s such a hard job, when you are trying to do it right.

  41. 41.

    JaviRey

    @prostratedragon: I’ve volunteered 2 cycles now for Lauren.  We were all worried the redistricting was going to make everyone complacent since the Joliet area is more Democratic but tends to have a lower turnout.  But they had a very intensive GOTV effort and had a +9 win!

    Lauren is the real deal and hearing her speak at multiple neighborhood meet-and-greets was a real motivator through a very tense election season.

  42. 42.

    Another Scott

    @Baud: We’ll have to see how it plays out – the FDIC / Treasury / FED statement says no taxpayer money will pay for losses.  If that’s the way it goes, then I agree it’s not a bailout.  At least not a front-door one.

    If, say, BoA takes them over and then makes all the depositors whole, but then writes off the losses on their corporate taxes, well, that might be a bailout by another name.  Dunno.

    We know the GQPers will try to turn it into Biden / Buttigieg’s Katrina no matter what – it’s what they do.  (Yes, Secretary Mayor Pete has nothing to do with it, but he’s this year’s villain so they’ll try to pin it on him.)

    We’ll see!

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  43. 43.

    Baud

    @Another Scott:

    Yes, if federal dollars actually go to someone not covered by insurance, then bailout is fine.  Until then, it just seems like a good move to prevent a bank run.

    ETA: Tax losses aren’t bailouts if the loss reflects an actual economic loss.

  44. 44.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Baud: A friend of mine works for the FDIC and they generally try their best of make depositors whole, even for uninsured deposits. Not out of goodness, but to try to head off future bank runs.

    What killed SVB was an old-fashioned bank run because companies worried that they might lose their uninsured deposits.

    But shareholders are toast.

  45. 45.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @Sister Golden Bear: The other thing that’s a bit unique about the SVB collapse is they (probably) actually had sufficient assets, it’s just that they were illiquid in bonds that will take 5-20 years to mature. Because the bonds were low-interest, they currently can’t easily be sold, but they will pay out their full amount when they reach maturity.

    Worst case the government holds on to them, and sells them off as they reach maturity, to pay back whatever money they spend now.

  47. 47.

    prostratedragon

    @Sister Golden Bear: ​ That part about the bank’s assets: I’m hardly a financial manager(!), just a kid on the internet who’s taken a couple of econ courses, but isn’t it at best questionable for a bank to have so much concentrated into long-term assets during a period of very low interest rates, as was the case until this recent Fed tightening? Especially if they have many large-deposit customers. I don’t mean ethically questionable, just dubious smarts.

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