Catalina Lauf, the 27-year-old Trump supporting social media darling who lost a primary race for Congress in 2020, says she’s challenging Trump critic Congressman Adam Kinzinger (R-Channahon) next year. But Lauf continues to leave a job for former Governor Bruce Rauner’s re-election campaign off her publicly available resumes.

Former Rauner officials tell us Lauf was hired as a Field Director on the 2018 campaign, but was moved around to multiple departments within the campaign because she “didn’t have a clue.” Prior to her Rauner campaign experience, her personal LinkedIn page says she spent a year in “Partnerships and Community Affairs” for ride-sharing company Uber.

Her online resume only lists a job as a “Director” of a "Political Organization” in 2018, presumably the Rauner campaign. Some Republicans we spoke to have speculated that Lauf is purposely trying to distance herself from Rauner because of his poor performance in 2018. Others say its because she doesn’t want Republican primary voters to know she signed on to Rauner’s effort after he signed HB40, a controversial bill involving more funding for abortions.

Lauf spent 8 months after the campaign as a political appointee in the Commerce Department in Washington before moving to her parent’s home in Woodstock to launch a campaign in the 14th Congressional district.

She finished 3rd in a 7-way primary last fall to challenge Congresswoman Lauren Underwood (D-Naperville).

Lauf responded to a text from The Illinoize Thursday night, but did not answer our question about why she leaves her work for the former Republican governor off her resume. She criticizes Kinzinger for his vote to impeach former President Donald Trump after the insurrection at the U.S. Capitol in January.

Patrick Pfingsten

@pfingsten1 patrick@theillinoize.com