Read About the Nurses Holding Positions in US Government

Congresswoman Lauren Underwood serves Illinois’ 14th Congressional District and was first sworn into Congress on January 3, 2019. She is the first woman, the first person of color, and the first millennial to represent her community in Congress.

Rep. Underwood is a registered nurse and co-founder and co-chair of the Black Maternal Health Caucus, which addresses America’s Black Maternal Health crisis in Congress and advances policy solutions to improve maternal health outcomes and end disparities. Rep. Underwood is Co-Chair of the House Democratic Policy and Communications Committee and serves on the House Committee on Appropriations.

Prior to her election to Congress, she served as a Senior Advisor at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), helping communities across the country prevent, prepare for, and respond to disasters, bioterror threats, and public health emergencies. As a career public servant at HHS, she also helped implement the Affordable Care Act, broadening access for those on Medicare, improving health care quality, and reforming private insurance. Rep. Underwood has taught future nurse practitioners through Georgetown University’s online master’s program and worked with a Medicaid plan in Chicago to ensure it provided high-quality, cost-efficient care.

She is a graduate of the University of Michigan and Johns Hopkins University, and a lifelong Girl Scout. Rep. Underwood resides in Naperville, Illinois.

Congresswoman Jen Kiggans is proudly serving Virginia’s Second Congressional District in the U.S. House of Representatives, which includes Virginia Beach, the Eastern Shore, part of Chesapeake and Southampton, Isle of Wight, Suffolk, and Franklin City.

Jen is a proud Navy Wife to her husband Steve, a retired F-18 pilot, and mom to their four amazing children who motivate her every day to fight for a stronger future for Virginia and our nation as a whole.

Prior to serving Virginians in public office, Jen served as a helicopter pilot in the U.S. Navy and worked in our nation’s healthcare system as a Geriatric Nurse Practitioner, serving America’s aging population.

Jen was winged as a Naval Aviator in 1995. She served our nation for a total of 10 years as a helicopter pilot flying H-46 and H-3 helicopters, completing two deployments to the Persian Gulf. As a former Navy helicopter pilot, Navy spouse, and now Navy Mom, Jen is a tireless advocate for the military community and is a strong voice for them in Congress.

After serving in the U.S. Navy, Jen used her GI Bill benefits to go back to school and become a board-certified Adult-Geriatric Primary Care Nurse Practitioner. A graduate of Old Dominion University’s Nursing School and Vanderbilt University’s Nurse Practitioner program, Jen has worked in several long-term care and nursing facilities in Virginia Beach and Norfolk in addition to serving as a primary care provider for a small private practice in Virginia Beach.

After years of growing frustration listening to politicians on the evening news and watching as division and negative rhetoric derailed legislative progress on issues important to her family and her community, Jen took her experience of working with a team to accomplish the mission at hand to Richmond. She served three sessions in the Virginia State Senate, where she successfully championed legislation to establish a Military Spouse Liaison and advocated for patients, families, and caregivers in long-term care facilities.

Jen comes to Congress determined to bring civility and competence to politics – something she believes is severely lacking in all levels of government – and provide Virginians with the strong, independent leadership in Washington they deserve.

In her first term in office, Cori has championed legislation that puts St. Louis front and center. A relentless advocate for racial, social, health care, and environmental justice, Cori has led the movement to guarantee housing for all introducing legislation to end houselessness by 2025, leading a national movement on the steps of the U.S. House of Representatives calling on the CDC to extend the eviction moratorium, as well as introducing legislation to permanently implement an eviction moratorium throughout the pandemic.

She's urgently prioritized issues that are affecting St. Louisans every day securing $700 million in COVID-19 relief for the St. Louis region through the American Rescue Plan, delivering an 8-week FEMA mass vaccination site, using her office as a vehicle to bring local leaders in the region together to coordinate a pandemic response, negotiating an EPA commitment to clean up Coldwater Creek, bringing home federal grant funding to create safer roadways and communities, and sending her constituent services team into local libraries to expand the accessibility of her office.

Cori serves on the House Judiciary Committee and on the House Oversight Committee. In her first term, she has become known for her catchphrase line of St. Louis and I, which she says at the beginning of any speech or question line in a hearing or on the House floor. She's used her position on these committees to advocate for stricter oversight of oil and gas companies, push for police reform, advocate for protester rights, and much more. Cori was also named to the prestigious Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission and appointed as Vice Chair of the Majority Leader Task Force on Poverty and Opportunity.

Dr. Bethany Hall-Long has served as Delaware’s 26th Lieutenant Governor since 2017. As a member of the Democratic Party, she served in the Delaware House of Representatives from 2002-2008 and in the Delaware Senate from 2008-2017.

Bethany was born and raised in Sussex County on her family farm with her two older brothers. She graduated from Indian River High School where she met her Husband Dana, who served in the U.S. Navy for nine years. Later, she earned a BSN from Thomas Jefferson University, an MSN from the Medical University of South Carolina, and a PhD in health policy and nursing administration from George Mason University.

As a lifelong nurse and research scientist, Dr. Hall-Long has dedicated her medical career to addressing health inequities and expanding treatment options and access for mental healthcare in Delaware. She has been nationally recognized for her research and community service record with at-risk groups such as pregnant teens, diabetics, the homeless, and people facing mental health challenges and substance use disorder.