Their outcome will have an effect on the rest of the world. E.g. Ukraine, climate change.
Brother.
Okay.
So..
Representatives are the ones that have districts. Texas district 2. NY district 16. Those are the little pieces of land, the Salamander you called it. This happens for both red and blue. Congressmen and women control that. This is local.
Then there's county. A county is a local equivalent of a region. Look at the Wikipedia entry for county to see how ours differs than Europe's.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/County For county we vote things like judges. But the map changes. Although I'm from the Houston metro area I cannot vote for the Mayor because I don't live in city of Houston proper. I live in the golden land of suburbia and we got our own mayor, with our own town, and our own laws and jurisdiction. This is local. But I still get to vote some things within the county like Propositions. There's no one that can gerrymander judges because everyone and their mother votes in county. Judges are not reflected districts or an electoral map beyond county jurisdiction.
So despite living in a blue city, my actual district is Republican. It is made up of well to do yuppies, but also a mix of working class manufacturing, warehouses, airport jobs, et al. A lot of money comes and is used here. We vote Republican in this district. We are pro-police.
Then there's senators and governors and Comptroller's. These are state level positions and do NOT work via district or a map or a territory line. These are people everyone in the state votes for to represent us and our interests. This is state level.
And then the whole shebang...the President. The President is the only office we vote for that's federal.
So despite Pelosi being a national star, she's really just a congresswoman for CA district 12. She is to defer to the interests of her district, that little piece of land, and their interests and take those interests to the people of Washington.