US Rep. Lauren Underwood holds on for another term

The Associated Press has declared incumbent Democratic Rep. Lauren Underwood the winner of Illinois’ 14th Congressional District, beating Republican challenger Scott Gryder.

Underwood, of Naperville, campaigned on her record, including that she served as a senior adviser in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services in former President Barack Obama’s administration, working on the Affordable Care Act.

Underwood was seeking her third term as the representative of the 14th District, which was redrawn following the 2020 U.S. Census to now stretch from her hometown westward through conservative Kendall County farmland into rural LaSalle County.

In 2020, she defeated former state Sen. Jim Oberweis by a mere 5,374 votes for her second term, after defeating four-term Republican U.S. Rep. Randy Hultgren of Plano in 2018 by 14,871 votes.

Underwood faced Gryder, president of the Kendall County Board, who said he was inspired to take on Underwood when he saw the new configuration of the 14th District, which was drawn by Illinois Democrats.

Gone were many of the far western and northwestern suburbs that had been in the district, leaving it with more of Kendall County, where Gryder has lived his whole life and where he is serving his third term as board chairman.

Gryder won a five-candidate Republican primary in June.