The United States and Russia are at odds over control of a UN organization that sets standards for new technologies.
The United Nations agency that develops technical standards for technology like cellphone networks and video streaming is going to vote on a new leader on Thursday. She is running against a man.
The American campaign has been very competitive. The president endorsed Ms. Bogdan-Martin last week, capping months of public and private lobbying on her behalf.
The leader of the I.T.U. will have the power to change the rules of the world. In recent years, the organization has set guidelines for how video streaming works and how the radio frequencies that power cellphone networks are used.
There is a growing fight between a democratic approach to the internet, which is lightly regulated and connected around the world, and authoritarian countries that want to control their citizens' access to the web. Russia has built a system that it can use to monitor what Russians say online about topics like the invasion of Ukraine, while the US does not regulate the content on social networks.
Some worry that Russia and China could use the I.T.U. to change the look of the web. The two countries called for preserving the right of states to regulate the national segment of the internet. The need to strengthen the representation of the two countries in the governing bodies of the International Telecommunication Union was emphasized by them.
The organization would help determine if people around the world could have affordable access to new technology and communicate across borders.
She said that they were putting time, money, and energy into the project.
The I.T.U. was founded to address telegraph machine issues. It has become involved in setting standards for everything from smart home devices to connected cars despite focusing on physical networks. The agency's conference is held every four years.
Mr. Biden said last week that Ms. Bogdan-Martin possessed the integrity, experience and vision needed to transform the digital landscape. A number of senior administration officials have supported her candidacy.
The United States hosted a reception at the conference center where attendees heard a pitch from Ms. Bogdan-Martin and saw a video endorsement from Vice President Harris.
Ms. Bogdan-Martin said she hoped her leadership of the I.T.U. could improve transparency at the organization. She wanted to bring an open, secure, reliable and consensual internet to everyone.
Moscow supports Mr. Ismailov, a former deputy minister for telecom and mass communications for the Russian government and a former executive at the Chinese telecommunications company that American officials fear could leak data from its products to Beijing.
There was no response from the Russian Embassy in Washington.
The election may be the beginning of more proxy battles.
Karen Kornbluh, a senior fellow at the German Marshall Fund, said that the U.S. is engaged in a new kind of foreign policy attack, where they see our adversaries and our competitors want to change the rules of the game to shut off access
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