They're not our representatives. They never were. They're the representatives of the ruling class.
Each election there is a set of choices on the table, usually only bad ones. But one of them always included extra suffering for minorities. It's your duty in good solidarity with the minorities to vote against that.
If you want better choices you need to fight for a new table. That gets done every other day that isn't election day. 99% of your time spent on getting a new table, like the French. 1% of your time protecting the vulnerable through harm reduction.