Within the past few years, there has been a rise of new powerhouse politicians such as Alexandria Ocasio Cortez and Dan Crenshaw who will each carry the future of their respective parties. Additionally, there are new spots opening on the Supreme Court, a presidential election in November, and a new generation of voters who bring a new sense of ideals with their voting power. Amidst the change to a new era in politics, a new wave of politicians are rising to fill the critical roles in the make up of our government. While these names might not be on everyone’s radar, they are the ones who will mirror constituent interests, enact new legislation, and lead people into the future. These are the rising stars on both sides of the political spectrum that are bound to continue making waves in their careers.

Tammy Duckworth

Meet Senator Tammy Duckworth, the former U.S. Army lieutenant colonel who represents the state of Illinois. Known for being a champion of veteran and women’s rights, Duckworth boasts an impressive resume. Notably, she has made it high up on the short list of possible vice presidents for 2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden. Duckworth is the first women with disabilities to ever be elected to Congress, as well as the first elected Thai-American woman. She served in Congress from 2013 to 2017. Duckworth is the first female double amputee in the Senate, and she is also the first senator to ever give birth while in office. She made headlines in 2018 for being the first senator to ever bring her baby on the Senate floor while she casted her vote.

A purple-heart veteran of the Iraq War, Duckworth lost both of her legs when her Blackhawk was shot down by an RPG overseas. Duckworth advocates for other wounded veterans and during her time as Director of the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, she worked to create a program to help veterans with post traumatic stress disorder. Duckworth has a long history of standing up for worker’s rights and has fought for legislation to protect the livelihoods of the working class. If appointed as Biden’s vice president, there is no doubt that she will bring strong change in the government system.

Dianne Morales

“It’s time for a new type of leadership, and a new type of vision,” said Dianne Morales, the 52-year-old Afro-Latina woman who is running for mayor of New York City in 2021. A political outsider, Morales is running to bring New York City into a new era that works to accommodate people of all classes, ages, and backgrounds. Morales is the CEO of the non-profit Phipps Neighborhoods: an organization in the south Bronx that fights poverty by providing finance, education, and career help to its community.

Morales is embodying the new wave of political leaders; while she doesn’t come from the typical politics background, she is using that to her advantage. “I am not a ‘typical’ candidate, but we are not living in ‘typical’ times,” she wrote in her launch email. If Morales is elected, she would be the first female mayor of New York City. Even if her grassroots campaign doesn’t secure her a spot in 2021, the future seems bright for Morales. Her goals of fighting for quality housing, jobs, education, healthcare, and transportation for all will launch her into a strong career of leadership.

Josh Hawley

Josh Hawley is the youngest member of the United States Senate, but he doesn’t let his age stop him from making waves in the chamber. The former attorney general of Missouri is seen as one of the nation’s leading constitutional lawyers. The Republican senator is known for taking on issues relating to religious rights, individual privacies, healthcare, and technology related issues. Hawley gained national traction for his support of the bill to end the rape kit backlog and for his efforts to overturn Obamacare.

Hawley was endorsed by President Trump, and he has been praised by the president as being the future of the Republican Party. While Hawley is a supporter of President Trump, he has partially fallen in the middle of the party by expressing anger over the wealth gap, condemning big corporation policies, supporting labor unions, and fighting for the safety of the middle class. There are whispers of a future presidential run for the senator, and Hawley is not one to shy away from talks about the future of his party. Whether he runs for a bigger office or not, there is no doubt that he will be a vital player in the future of the GOP.

Nanette Barragán

Nanette Barragán has been making waves since 2016 when she became the first Latina ever to represent California’s 44th Congressional District. She has been working to fight for local change by taking on environmental issues, immigration reform, economics, and education reform. Her career began in the late 1990s when she worked to represent the interests of African Americans in the Office of Public Liaison for the Clinton White House. She also worked for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People focusing on racial health disparities.

Barragán gained attention as a strong advocate for environmental justice when she publicly opposed an oil company’s proposal to drill wells in Hermosa Beach and Santa Monica Bay. She championed the movement that would eventually stop the oil company and save the beach. Barragán is now the Second Vice-Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and she serves on the House Committee on Homeland Security. She has recently made headlines for fighting for inmate rights amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. Barragán has made a career by being a voice for communities that have suffered from the effects of climate change, and she has a strong future ahead as America steps up to address the climate crisis.

Nikki Haley

Dubbed as the future of the Republican Party, Nikki Haley is the former governor of South Carolina and former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations. Haley has had a packed career, starting in the South Carolina House of Representatives in 2004 when she became the first Indian-American to hold office in South Carolina. She has built a strong campaign for herself based around conservative ideals of economics, healthcare, and international policy. It is widely speculated that Haley will be the GOP frontrunner for the 2024 presidential election.

Haley has aligned herself with the Trump Campaign and has succeeded in gaining the president’s support in her decisions as the U.N. Ambassador. While she is known for her conservatism, Haley has gained traction for protecting the rights of immigrants, her handling of the 2015 Charleston Church Shooting, her fight against racial discrimination, and her few criticisms of some of Trump’s time in office. Haley resigned from her post at the United Nations in 2018.

Mitchell Landrieu

Mitch Landrieu’s name might ring a bell if you paid attention to news outlets during the 2015 confederate statue controversy. Before Landrieu made his viral speech on the Removal of Confederate Monuments, most American’s were not aware of the work that he had done in his time as mayor of New Orleans and lieutenant governor of Louisiana. Landrieu boasts about being known as one of the most successful mayorships in America due to his leadership efforts on public health, infrastructure, and working towards gun violence reform. Landrieu set a new precedent for resilience as he led New Orleans through a post-Katrina era.

During his political career, Landrieu has had multiple successes, including leading the effort to reform Louisiana's juvenile justice system; pushing the legislation towards funding the Louisiana Cancer Research Consortium of New Orleans; and his justice reform regarding the need for body cameras used by police officers nationwide. Perhaps his most notable moments can be found in his leadership in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina. He was able to secure FEMA funding, reform a hurting economy, and create the first resilience plan for the city. Landrieu has a strong foundation to make his next career move, and he has previously explored a presidential run.

Amy McGrath

Meet the woman who is fighting to take Mitch McConnell’s seat in the Senate. Amy McGrath is the former marine and fighter pilot who boasts an impressive 20 years of service and has flown 89 combat missions against Al-Qaeda and The Taliban. She is known for her viral campaign videos promoting her 2020 Senate campaign and her determination to defeat McConnell. In pre-election polls, McGrath is neck and neck with McConnell and has raised millions of dollars from supporters of her campaign.

McGrath is running a Democratic campaign based on healthcare reform, foreign policy, government reform, and economic change. Although McGrath is new to the political field, she comes from a strong military background. After her operational flying tours, Amy served as a congressional fellow advising a member of the U.S. House of Representatives Armed Services Committee on defense and foreign policy. She has also served in the Pentagon as a Marine Corps liaison to the State Department. Her awards include Meritorious Service Medals, Strike Flight Air Medals, Navy/Marine Corps Commendation Medal, Navy Achievement Medal, Presidential Unit Citation, and Iraqi and Afghan Campaign medals. If McGrath is able to win a seat in the Senate, she is bound to have a long career in politics, aiming to fix a system to better serve her constituents.

Andy Beshear

Dubbed as one of America’s leaders during the COVID-19 pandemic, Andy Beshear is defining what it means to lead in times of adversity. The governor of Kentucky boasts an impressive 81% approval rating by his constituents regarding his handling of the pandemic and impressed the nation with his contact tracing, economic protections, and congregation control methods.While his leadership might have put him on a national scale, Beshear has been working to improve the state of Kentucky since his election in 2019.

The former attorney general has been a strong advocate for healthcare reform and has worked to fight against pharmaceutical companies in response to Kentucky’s opioid epidemic. He has worked to expand medicaid and to support the affordable care act. In his short time as governor, Beshear gave voting rights to all adults in Kentucky who have been convicted and completed their sentence of non-violent felonies; started the movements for education reform in his state; and has made efforts to form bipartisan agreements to solving the issues that affect Kentucky. After seeing his impressive composure during the corona virus pandemic, Beshear now has a national spotlight on him. His future plans are unknown, but he has strong potential to bring about change in the future of public education and healthcare reform.

People To Watch in Politics