Lauren Underwood
Democrat
· IL-14 · 119th Congress
House Committee on Appropriations · Rural Development · Food and Drug Administration · and Related Agencies · House Committee on Education and Labor · and Pensions · House Committee on Homeland Security · Infrastructure Protection · and Innovation · and Recovery · House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Influence Score
72.0
Highly exposed
↓ -0.7
vs 118th (72.7)
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This score measures financial influence across twelve categories. Each bar shows how this member compares to all others in Congress. Longer bars mean more exposure.
Score breakdown — twelve categories
Contributionsmoney from PACs (political action committees) and individual donors
6.1
/ 12
Outside spendingmoney spent by groups to help elect them
1.8
/ 6
Spent to help elect them
$890,703
Outside groups that spent to help elect this member — this drives the outside-spending bar above
Spent to defeat this member
$20,808
Outside groups that spent to defeat this member (not counted in this score)
Lobbyinghow hard lobbyists push the committees this member sits on
2.5
/ 10
Revolving door
former staff now working as lobbyists
0.0
/ 3
Vote alignmenthow often they vote the way their donors want
8.7
/ 12
Contribution timingmoney arriving near key votes
5.2
/ 6
Stock tradesbuying stocks in industries they regulate
0.0
/ 1
Dark moneyfunding from groups that hide their donors
0.8
/ 2
Outbound money distributionmoney this member sends out to the party and to colleagues
12.1
/ 16
Cluster network breadthhow many coordinated funding networks back this member
7.7
/ 10
Committee jurisdiction powerthe legislative reach of the committees this member sits on
3.3
/ 10
Foreign interestforeign-interest money — Israel-policy PACs and FARA-registered institutional lobbying allocated by committee jurisdiction
9.4
/ 12
FARA institutional lobbying
This member’s committees are targeted by $132.05M in lobbying from FARA-registered firms representing South Korea, Japan, Saudi Arabia. This exposure is weighted at 0.2% of face value in the score — $264K.
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Score across four congresses
Score and tier for each Congress. Members are ranked against others in the same Congress, so tiers are comparable across rows. Raw scores reflect different data availability per Congress.
| Congress | Score | Tier |
|---|---|---|
| 116th · 2019-2021 | 77.9 | Highly exposed |
| 117th · 2021-2023 | 76.9 | Most exposed |
| 118th · 2023-2025 | 72.7 | Highly exposed |
| 119th · 2025-2027 | 72.0 | Highly exposed |
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Biggest funding source
The single network behind the most money and influence
Network
HOUSE MAJORITY PAC NETWORK
Total money from this network
$384,911
Number of funding networks contributing
1
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Where most of the money comes from
What share of their combined contributions and outside spending comes from a single network. Party committees are excluded.
Share from this one network
2.8%
Amount from this network
$43,500
Total from all networks
$1,577,744
Networks contributing
297
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Who funds Underwood
Every funding network we can measure, ranked by influence
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Does the money match their power?
Whether their money comes from the industries their committees actually oversee
Money from industries they regulate
18.2%
Extra weight when money matches their committees
1.50×
Share of outside spending tied to their policy areas
19.1%
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Money timed to key votes
Donations arriving near key votes in the policy areas this member regulates
Times money arrived near a vote
57
Money that arrived near votes
$158K
Distinct donors
72
Distinct employers
42
Share of their total fundraising
4.27%
Biggest clusters of timed money
ARIEL INVESTMENTS
$7K
BERKSHIRE
$7K
GREYLOCK
$7K
HARVARD UNIVERSITY
$7K
HEIGHT SECURITIES
$7K
KIRKLAND ELLIS LLP
$7K
LUPA SYSTEMS
$7K
PAUL WEISS
$7K
PRINCETON UNIVERSITY
$7K
ROPES GRAY
$7K
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Top Donors
Biggest sources of contributions, grouped by employer, this cycle
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
$42K
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
$33K
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
$32K
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
$27K
ELEVANCE HEALTH
$24K
KIRKLAND ELLIS LLP
$19K
NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY
$18K
BLUE SHIELD OF CALIFORNIA
$18K
CORNERSTONE GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
$17K
BLUE SHIELD OF CALIFORNIA
$16K
CLIFFORD LAW OFFICES
$14K
UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO
$14K
CLIFFORD LAW OFFICES
$13K
DAVIS WRIGHT TREMAINE
$13K
GEORGE WASHINGTON UNIVERSITY
$13K
THE VISTRIA
$13K
THE VISTRIA
$12K
MASSACHUSETTS GENERAL HOSPITAL
$12K
ROPES GRAY
$12K
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA-SAN FRANCISCO
$11K
Where the outside money comes from
How much of the outside spending for and against Lauren Underwood comes from groups that disclose their donors versus groups that hide them
Total outside spending received
$491K
Disclosed outside spending
$284K
Dark-money outside spending
$207K
Share that is dark money
42.17%
Dark money tied to their policy areas
$192K
Groups hiding their donors
6
By funding network
INDEPENDENCE USA PAC
$3.39M
NRCC
$1.82M
AMERICAN ASSOCIATION OF NURSE ANESTHETISTS SEPARATE SEGREGATED FUND (CRNA-PAC)
$699K
WOMEN VOTE
$487K
LCV VICTORY FUND
$454K
CLIMATE POWER ACTION
$205K
MOVEON.ORG POLITICAL ACTION
$193K
HOUSE MAJORITY PAC NETWORK
$107K
AMERICAN COLLEGE OF OB-GYNS PAC (OB-GYN PAC)
$89K
PROGRESSIVE TURNOUT PROJECT
$89K
INDIVISIBLE ACTION ARIZONA
$86K
HOUSE FREEDOM ACTION
$70K
AFT SOLIDARITY
$57K
AMERICA VOTES ACTION FUND
$46K
MOMSRISING TOGETHER
$33K
Groups that hide their donors
$102K
$89K
$10K
2 smaller groups under $500
$232
Likely donors behind the dark money supporting this member
Inferred
Donors who fund the disclosed PACs in the same network as the hidden groups above. "Coverage" is how many of that network's disclosed groups a donor funds — the more they fund, the more likely they also back the hidden group.
TITUS FOR CONGRESS
$84K
NEVADANS FOR STEVEN HORSFORD
$83K
SUSIE LEE FOR CONGRESS
$82K
BRITTANY PETTERSEN FOR COLORADO
$26K
PAUL DOOLEY
$17K
CYNTHIA SNELL
$6K
ROSLYN MEYER
$5K
DONALD HENLEY
$4K
WILIAM HANEY
$4K
CATHERINE ROMLEY
$2K
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Pro-Israel network donors
This counts contributions to this member from individuals whose FEC filings also show contributions to one of the 16 pro-Israel political action committees tracked by the Index. It is a measure of donor overlap — not a claim about why any individual gave, and not part of the influence score.
54 individuals who also gave to pro-Israel PACs contributed $899K to Lauren Underwood across 196 contributions.
Total from shared contributors
$899K
Shared contributors
54
Contributions
196
By cycle
| Cycle | Shared donors | Gifts | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2022 | 43 | 126 | $296K |
| 2024 | 27 | 51 | $497K |
| 2026 | 9 | 19 | $106K |
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Lauren Underwood's file shows clear influence markers across multiple categories for the top funding network, placing them in the upper range of this Congress. The pattern runs above what coincidence would produce, and the methodology page documents what each category requires.
Data: FEC (Federal Election Commission) filings · 118th–119th Congress · lobbying disclosures · VoteView recorded votes
All findings derived programmatically from public records · No prior knowledge required
All findings derived programmatically from public records · No prior knowledge required