随着疫情的肆虐，全国各地的地方政治希望者往往在前线为选民服务，同时也通过国家对种族关系的考量来指导他们的社区。在许多情况下，这些官员的个人经历随着选民和选民在日常生活中的所见而演变。

采取行动缓解双重危机的必要性给了几位新兴国家领导人一个机会，在竞选活动和国家议会中利用他们的个人经验。

宾夕法尼亚州众议员马尔科姆·肯雅塔(Malcolm Kenyatta)对美国广播公司(ABC News)表示:“许多人现在都意识到了我一直知道的一点——州政府真的很重要。”

近一年前，在疫情最严重的时候，肯雅塔为低收入工人辩护的演讲视频在网上疯传。在演讲中，这位30岁的老人强调了这些工人在持续的健康危机和缺乏个人防护设备的情况下面临的困难。

肯雅塔当时说:“人们要求的是他们得到服务，他们去餐馆坐下来，由一名服务人员提供服务，他们拒绝支付15美元的最低工资。”

今年2月，这位宾夕法尼亚州代表宣布参选该州2022年开放的美国参议院席位。他的第一个竞选视频包括了各种各样的蒙面人参与他们社区的快照，这似乎是对当前疫情发展的认可。

随着疫情的发展，肯雅塔经常发现自己与面临经济不安全的选民一起工作，一些选民甚至会到他的办公室寻求关于他们的刺激检查的帮助。他说，这些互动提醒他“在办公室的每一个层面都有好的人是多么重要和重要。”

肯雅塔告诉美国广播公司新闻，“对我来说，这一切都是为了让办公室的人了解人们面临的第一手挑战。”

根据阿曼达·利特曼的说法，这场流行病暴露了地方政府的许多职能是如何直接影响选民的。阿曼达·利特曼是进步政治招聘组织“为某事而跑”的创始人，该组织最近标志着其第500名候选人的胜利。

“在大流行期间，谁在当地负责变得非常重要——你可以有不同的体验，这取决于你在哪里，从餐馆开门还是关门，到学校开门还是关门，到你的城市服务如何运作，你能去领结婚证吗...诸如此类的事情。这一切都发生在地方政府的交叉点上，”利特曼说。

新华社/盖蒂图像，文件

佐治亚州亚特兰大，抗议者聚集在一起回应针对亚裔美国人的仇恨犯罪。，2021年3月20日。

新美国领导人组织的临时主席萨拉·勒布鲁斯克(Sara Le Brusq)专注于培训寻求竞选地方政治职位的第一代和第二代美国人。他说，许多参与该组织的候选人在大流行时代遇到了与选民相似的障碍，这有助于通过分享“生活经验”建立联系。

据Le Brusq称，在大流行期间竞选公职的许多当选官员正在动员他们的竞选活动，同时也在直接受到健康和社会正义危机双重影响的专业领域从事全职工作。

麻醉师米歇尔·奥博士赢得了她在亚特兰大郊区的州参议员席位，同时也在新冠肺炎患者的前线工作。在竞选过程中，奥利用了她在医疗行业的专业知识，将她的平台围绕着让格鲁吉亚“走向更健康的未来”的目标，同时也反对她所说的“在公共卫生和重建经济之间选择”的“错误选择”。

除了在医疗领域处于大流行的前线之外，该州第一位东亚州参议员Au还面临着该国对亚裔美国人歧视的清算，这种歧视在过去一年中不断升级。作为一名民选官员，非盟在一次发言中强调了亚裔美国人和太平洋岛民社区的艰难经历，称之为“非常古老的歧视故事中的新篇章”。自那时以来，非盟一直努力争取支持在AAPI社区增加政治代表性。

在亚利桑那州，大流行和社会正义之间的类似重叠帮助州代表和护理人员梅洛迪·埃尔南德斯赢得了她的席位。在整个竞选过程中，埃尔南德斯引用了大流行期间提出的问题来加强她的进步平台，并经常记录她对大流行给她的社区带来的损失的反思。当选后，埃尔南德斯继续借鉴她在大流行期间的经历，引入了为一线员工提供保护的立法，包括危险津贴、与COVID相关的病假和隔离住宿。

像Le Brusq这样的组织者希望，当地立法者在上一个选举周期中与选民建立的联系有助于进入即将到来的竞选，这些竞选可能最早于今年开始形成。

“我们将比以往任何时候都更加努力地选举新的美国人和有色人种，并确保我们的代表反映我们国家的丰富性和多样性，”她说。

随着更多的地方选举即将到来，利特曼似乎在呼应这种情绪。

“有一种说法是，投票越靠下，就越靠近你的门，”她说，并补充道，“这些我们认为是大国家的问题，棘手的问题通常可以在小规模上解决——至少在政策上是这样。”

New wave of lawmakers build off of pandemic-era hurdles

As the pandemic raged, local political hopefuls across the country were often serving constituents on the frontlines while also guiding their communities through a national reckoning over race relations. In many cases, the personal experiences of those officials were evolving in tandem with what voters and constituents saw in their daily lives.

The need for action to mitigate the dual crises gave several emerging state leaders an opportunity to leverage their personal experiences both on the campaign trail and in the nation’s state houses.

"A lot of folks are now waking up to what I've always known -- that state government is really important," Pennsylvania state Rep. Malcolm Kenyatta told ABC News.

Nearly a year ago, at the height of the pandemic, a video of Kenyatta's floor speech defending low-wage workers went viral. During the speech, the 30-year-old highlighted difficulties those workers faced amid the ongoing health crisis and lack of access to PPE.

"What folks are demanding is that they get to be served, that they get to go to a restaurant and sit down and be served by a service worker who they refuse to pay a $15 minimum wage," Kenyatta said at the time.

In February, the Pennsylvania state representative announced his candidacy for the state's open 2022 U.S. Senate seat. In what appeared to be a nod to ongoing developments with the pandemic, his first campaign video included snapshots of a diverse array of masked individuals engaging in their communities.

As the pandemic progressed, Kenyatta often found himself working with constituents facing economic insecurities, and some constituents would even come to his office for help regarding their stimulus checks. He says those interactions reminded him of "how consequential and how important it is to have good people in office, at every single level."

"For me it's all about having people in office that understand the firsthand challenges that folks are up against," Kenyatta told ABC News.

According to Amanda Litman -- the founder of the progressive political recruitment organization, Run For Something, which recently marked its 500th candidate victory -- the pandemic exposed how many of the functions of local government directly impact constituents.

"It became so important [during the pandemic], who was in charge locally -- you could have a different experience depending on where you were, and everything from restaurants being open or closed, to schools being open or closed, to how your city services were functioning, could you go get a marriage license...that kind of thing. It all came to the intersection of local government," Litman said.

Sara Le Brusq, the interim president of New American Leaders -- which focuses on training first and second-generation Americans seeking to run for local political office -- says many of the candidates involved with the organization encountered similar pandemic-era hurdles as voters, which helped build connections through shared "lived experiences."

According to Le Brusq, many of the elected officials who ran for office during the pandemic were mobilizing their campaigns while also working full-time jobs in professions that were directly affected by the dual impacts of the health and social justice crises.

Dr. Michelle Au, an anesthesiologist, won her state Senate seat in the Atlanta suburbs while also working on the frontlines with COVID-19 patients. On the campaign trail, Au leaned into her expertise in the medical profession by centering her platform around the goal of moving Georgia “towards a healthier future,” while also arguing against what she called the “false choice” of choosing “between public health and rebuilding [the] economy.”

In addition to being on the frontlines of the pandemic in the medical field, Au -- the state’s first East Asian state senator -- was also faced with the nation’s reckoning over Asian American discrimination that escalated over the course of the last year. As an elected official, Au put a spotlight on the difficult experiences unfolding across Asian American and Pacific Islander communities in a floor speech, calling it "a new chapter in a very old story" of discrimination. Since then, Au has been working to build support for greater political representation in the AAPI community.

In Arizona, a similar overlap between the pandemic and social justice helped state representative and paramedic Melody Hernandez win her seat. Throughout the campaign, Hernandez cited the issues raised during the pandemic to reinforce her progressive platform and often documented her reflections on the toll the pandemic was taking on her community. After being elected, Hernandez continued to build on her lived pandemic experiences by introducing legislation that offered protections for front-line workers including hazard pay, COVID-related sick leave and quarantine accommodations.

Organizers like Le Brusq hope the kinds of connections local lawmakers built with constituents over the course of the last election cycle help springboard into upcoming contests that are likely to begin taking shape as early as this year.

"We're going to work harder than ever to elect new Americans and people of color, and make sure that our representation reflects the richness and diversity of our country," she said.

With more local elections on the horizon, Litman appears to be echoing that sentiment.

"There's an expression, further down the ballot, the closer to your door," she said, adding, "These things that we think of as big national, sticking problems often can be solved -- at least policy-wise -- on a small scale."