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New Era of US Campaigning in Time of Coronavirus

Katherine Gypson

   WASHINGTON - Thecongressional district Lindsey Boylan is running to
   represent is eerily quiet.

   New York's 10^thCongressional District takes in parts ofManhattan and
   Brooklyn and includes one of the nation's makeshift hospitals converted
   to handle the growing coronavirus crisis: the Javits Center.

   "You don't see the lights of the city that you would usually see.
   People really try to be respectful of the shelter-in-place rule, aside
   from grocery stores," says Boylan, a former deputy secretary of
   economic development for Governor Andrew Cuomo who is running as a
   primary challenger to House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler. "It's just
   a really quiet, quiet city."

   Boylan is one of thousands of candidates up and down the ballot across
   the nation who have had to adapt their campaigns to the new realities
   of self-isolationand shelter-in-place orders.

   Online replaces door-to-door

   Candidates who usually at this time in an election year would be
   knocking on doors and holding face-to-facetown hallshavemigrated online
   to Instagram Lives and Zoom meetings.

   Campaigning is alwaysdifficultbut this dramatic shift is occurring
   early in a crucial election season that will determine if Democrats
   retain their majority in the U.S.House of Representatives while
   Republicans are looking to hold on to control of the U.S.Senate.The
   makeup of the nation's legislative body will be determined by these
   candidates' success or failure.

   "There's an old saying in electoral politics -- there are those that
   walk and those that lose. You want to get out there and do the door
   knocking," says Todd Belt, director of the political management program
   at the George Washington University School of Political Management.

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