EVENT: The Winning Message for Democrats
Join DemCast & our guests Rep. Lauren Underwood and Senate Candidate Wiley Nickel this Monday at 7pm ET.
Democrats Have a Lot of Work to Do
As the party attempts to regain some semblance of power in DC during the 2026 midterms, the question remains: how exactly do they do that? What’s the message, and how will it be delivered…?
This Monday, DemCast is hosting a special conversation with two guests who are thinking deeply about how to win American hearts and minds:
Rep. Lauren Underwood is currently serving as Co-Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, where she focuses on messaging for the House Democratic Caucus.
US Senate Candidate Wiley Nickel just announced his run to defeat Thom Tillis in North Carolina, and is deep into developing his strategy for communicating a winning message in a purple state.
Join the conversation on Zoom! Bring your questions!
More Information About Our Guests and Co-Hosts
Cohost
The Women of Color Coalition is a grassroots political organization dedicated to building the political power of ​​Black, Indigenous, women and communities of color while supporting candidates and elected officials who best reflect their progressive policy mission and values. Our Co-Moderator will be Rachel Green - the Founder and CEO of the Women of Color Coalition. Throughout her career, Rachel has been a staunch advocate for educational equity, civil rights, and social justice, particularly for children in New Jersey. Her passion for serving her community has led her to serve on various boards and committees, where she has earned multiple awards recognizing her invaluable contributions. Through her work, Rachel continues to inspire others in the fight for a better, fairer world for all.
Lauren Underwood
Congresswoman Lauren Underwood represents Illinois’ 14th Congressional District, a suburban, exurban, and rural district in northern Illinois.
As the first person of color, first woman, and first millennial elected to represent her district, she flipped IL-14 from red to blue in a historic fashion in 2018, defeating a four-term Republican incumbent. When she was sworn into office in 2019, she became the youngest Black woman to ever serve in Congress.
In 2022, Lauren was elected to serve in House Leadership by her colleagues — she currently serves as Co-Chair of the Democratic Policy and Communications Committee, where she focuses on messaging for the Caucus.
She currently serves on the House Committee on Appropriations, where she is the Ranking Member Homeland Security subcommittee. Lauren has had eighteen pieces of legislation signed into law by both Democratic and Republican presidents.
She has made access to high-quality, affordable health care a signature issue. Her bill, the Healthcare Affordability Act, was signed into law as part of President Biden’s American Rescue Plan, and extended in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Congresswoman Underwood co-founded the Black Maternal Health Caucus to combat America’s unacceptably high maternal death rates and the significant disparities experienced by Black mothers. In 2020, alongside colleagues in the House and Senate, she first introduced the Momnibus, a package of evidence-based bills to save moms’ lives. Congresswoman Underwood is also a member of the Congressional Black Caucus.
Before her election to Congress, she worked to implement the Affordable Care Act as a career civil servant in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She was later appointed by President Obama to serve as a Senior Advisor at HHS, where she helped communities prevent, prepare for, and respond to public health emergencies, bioterror threats, and other disasters.
Wiley Nickel
As a father, husband, attorney, state senator, and Congressman for North Carolina, Wiley Nickel has committed his life to public service and fighting for working families. At a young age, Wiley Nickel saw firsthand how a health care crisis can shake a family when he lost his father to lung cancer as a high schooler. His father, a farmer, taught him to work hard and fight for people. That led Wiley to work for two White House administrations — including for President Barack Obama, where he saw and learned from President Obama’s vision of hope and change for America.
After working for President Obama, Wiley started a family and started a business right here in North Carolina. In 2018, he won a seat in the North Carolina State Senate, where he worked to protect abortion rights and voting rights. Then, in 2022, he ran for Congress and flipped a red seat blue against a Trump-backed opponent — one of just six flips in the country.