Connecting to Congress During COVID-19: Political Representation and Two-Way Crisis Communication

Abstract

In the wake of the rapid escalation of COVID-19 in the United States in 2020, Congress was charged with finding ways to effectively disseminate reliable information and encouraging compliance with public health measures in addition to designing policies that would be responsive to the unprecedented needs of those in their districts. Our team quickly transitioned and tailored the structure of our Deliberative Town Halls (DTHs) as to best facilitate the necessary conversations between members of Congress and their constituents: whereas pre-COVID-19 DTHs focused on a single issue with a single member of Congress, the COVID-19 events often featured a bipartisan pair of members, participating alongside subject matter experts. These two-way conversations allowed for members to gain the critical information pertaining to how to develop policies that were responsive to articulated constituents needs and allowed constituents to express their opinions and feelings on COVID-19 related policies, Congress's handling of the pandemic, and the personal struggles they had faced as the effects of the pandemic transpired.