Election night was a long night for me. I did not sleep until 1 a.m. I woke up a couple of times to check the updates of electoral votes. Since I grew up in China, I did not have the opportunity to participate in any political decisions because of the one-party government system. Before taking a political science class, I thought politics meant nothing to me and it did not affect my life, but I was wrong. I learned that whoever becomes the next president would affect my life with the policies he makes. It is why I paid close attention to the presidential election, and I cared about who is going to be the next president.

I think the most important issue facing our country right now is how to combat Coronavirus as one nation. As of Nov. 4, more than 230,000 Americans have died due to Coronavirus, and the death toll is still climbing. The United States has the most COVID-19 confirmed cases around the world, and the number of new daily cases has increased dramatically in the last seven days. It has been 10 months since the  California government issued stay-at-home orders, and no effective method to eliminate the virus. I did not blame the California Governor – he did everything he could. However, it is because of a lack of a centralized plan to stop the spread of coronavirus. Donald Trump sent misleading information about Coronavirus, diminished the dangers of this disease, refused to wear masks, and he still has not issued any national plan to combat this pandemic. Trump put every American life at risk. I really believe that we need a leader that will put citizen’s safety as a priority and help the nation to get through this tough time.