Contact Your Elected Officials.
It Matters.
advice from a high-level staffer for a Senator (Updated 2/8/2025)
Don’t bother with online petitions, emailing, or mailed letters. There are two things that we should be doing all the time right now, and they're by far the most important things:
1) The best thing you can do to be heard and get your congressperson to pay attention is to have face-to-face time
If they have town halls, go to them. Go to their local offices. If you're in DC, try to find a way to go to an event of theirs. Go to the "mobile offices" that their staff hold periodically (all these times are located on each congressperson's website).
When you go, ask questions. A lot of them. And push for answers. The louder and more vocal and present you can be at those, the better.
2) in-person MEETINGS don't happen OFTEN OR EASILY, So the absolute most important thing YOU should be doing is calling.
Plan to make six calls a day — two each (DC office and your local office) to our two U.S. Senators, plus two to your U.S. House Representative.
Calls are what all the congresspeople pay attention to. Every single day, the senior staff and the Senator get a report of the 3 most-called-about topics for that day at each of their offices (in DC and local offices), and exactly how many people said what about each of those topics. They're also sorted by zip code and area code. Republican callers generally outnumber Democrat callers 4-1, and when it's a particular issue that single-issue voters pay attention to (like gun control, or Planned Parenthood funding, etc.), it's often closer to 11-1. This has recently pushed Republican congressmen on the fence to vote with the Republicans. In the last 8 years, Republicans have called, and Democrats haven't. We have our jobs cut out for us, so let’s get dialing.
When you call:
When calling the DC office and someone answers, ask for the staff member in charge of whatever you're calling about (“Hi, I’d like to speak with the staffer in charge of Healthcare, please”). Local offices won’t always have specific ones, but they might. If you get transferred to that person, great. If you don’t, ask for that person's name, but continue to say whatever you want to say to the person who answered. It’s better to talk to the staffer who first answered than leave a message for the specific staffer in charge of your topic). If no one answers, leave a message explaining why you’re calling, and include your name and zip code.
Always provide your zip code so they can mark it down.
If you can make your message personal, definitely do. “I voted for you in the last election and I’m worried/happy/disappointed about …. because ….” —or— “I’m a teacher, and I am appalled by ….,” or “as a single mother, …”
Focus on one specific topic per day. Ideally, choose something that will be voted on or discussed in the next few days, but keep calling even if there’s not a vote coming up. It’s important that they just keep getting calls.
Be clear on what you want — “I’m disappointed that the Senator...” or “I want to thank the Senator for their vote on...” or “I want the Senator to know that voting in …. way is the wrong decision for our state because...” Don't leave any ambiguity.
Don’t worry about them getting to know your voice or name. It doesn't matter. The people answering the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks, so even if they're really sick of you, they'll be gone soon.
Take advantage of online resources. If you hate being on the phone and feel awkward, don't worry about it. There are a variety of online resources for scripts, suggested topics, and related information. After a few days of calling, it starts to feel a lot more natural.
Jessica Craven's Chop Wood, Carry Water (sign up for daily emails)
Put politicians’ office numbers in your phone for faster calling. One suggestion is to put them all under P – Politician, so you can just click down the list each day. Example: Politician Fetterman DC, Politician Fetterman PA, Politician Deluzio DC, Politician Deluzio PA, etc.
Congressman Chris Deluzio
DC: (202) 225-2301 / Pgh: (412) 344-5583 / Penn Hills: (412) 344-5583Senator John Fetterman
DC: (202) 224-4254 / Pgh: (412) 803-3501 / H-bg: (717) 782-3951Senator Dave McCormick
DC: (202) 224-6324 / Pgh: (412) 803-7370 / H-bg: (717) 231-7540If you have other tips, resources, or interactions to share, email us at info@pinedems.org.