The United States and Russia should develop cooperation in space, increase cultural exchanges and, more broadly, expand engagement on issues of common interest, Diane Saar, who announced in January that she will run as an independent candidate in the 2028 US presidential election, told TASS. Referring to the results of the US mid-term congressional elections, she suggested that US-Russia relations would likely suffer under a Democratic majority, acknowledging that there is anti-Russian hysteria in the Democratic Party. "At the same time, I've noticed that people are now more open to alternative points of view than they were just a few years ago. Public trust in both parties is at an all-time low. However, it's hard to say what effect a Democratic majority in Congress will have on President Donald Trump, who doesn't seem overly concerned about congressional opposition to his policy agenda," Saar stressed. "I believe that the US and Russia should work to expand common interests. The cooperation of our space programs has been productive and should be expanded. We also need to encourage cultural exchange," Saar said, adding that the US Department of Energy is doing more to promote nuclear power, while Russia is making significant strides in fourth-generation high-temperature reactors.