Legislative Contact Toolkit - Top Ten Tips for Calling and Writing Your Legislator

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi

Legislative Contact Toolkit provides practical guidance for contacting a legislator effectively by phone, letter, and email. It outlines ten actionable steps for making a persuasive call, including planning a concise request, communicating as a constituent, working with staff if needed, and building momentum through follow-ups and multiple calls. It also explains how to write and email strategically: state you are a constituent, personalize messages, use local examples and news, acknowledge prior support, and keep requests brief to improve read rates.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLetters

FormatPDF

Pages8

Reading Time3 min

AccessFree to download

Top Ten Tips for Calling Your Legislator

Planning and making the call

Messaging, persuasion, and follow-up

Ten Tips for Writing/Emailing Your Legislator

Starting as a constituent

Personalization and local relevance

Clear, concise requests

Legislative Contact Toolkit Top Ten Tips for Calling Your Legislator Making a phone call to your legislator is quick, easy, and can be done at a moment’s notice, making it an attractive method for legislative contact. For these same reasons, it is critical that the phone call be effective. You don’t need to be an expert on the issue in order to be persuasive; you just need to give your personal perspective. Follow these ten steps for an effective call to your legislator: 1. Plan: Before you make the call, plan what you are going to say. Your phone call will be very brief, so keep your message simple and to-the-point. Take a moment to think about it—you might even want to make some notes—and you’ll find that your call goes more smoothly than if you were to call “off the cuff”. Know your request (for example, vote for a specific bill) in as few words as possible. 2. Message: After identifying (and possibly writing down) your request, think about a key point or personal story that supports your position. 3. Call: Make the call. If your legislator is in your home district on specific days or on weekends, call them when they are in your home district. There is more time and less distraction, and your position as a constituent will be enhanced if you are talking on “home turf”. 4. Staff or Message: You may not be able to reach your legislator if you are calling his or her office during the legislative session. Be prepared to talk to one of the legislator’s staff or to leave a message instead. Make sure you get the staff person’s full name, and treat them with the respect. 5. Constituent: Begin by stating that you are a constituent. Legislators are most responsive to the people who can keep them in office—their constituents. 6. Persuade: Get to the point. Following your plan, state the reason for the call. Try to get the legislator to state their position on the issue, and try to persuade them using the points you developed. 7. Thank: If the legislator agrees to support your issue, thank them. Regardless of their position, thank the legislator for their time. Let them know that you will be tracking the issue. 8. Recruit: Recruit a like-minded friend, family member, or colleague to make a call as well. Particularly with phone calls, quantity is critical. Legislators pay attention to issues when they believe that many of their constituents care about that issue. 9. Report your call: When you are part of a grassroots lobbying effort, your participation is helpful only if the people mobilizing the effort know about it. Let your agency or ARRM know you made the call. 10. Call Back: Call more than once. Quantity is as important, if not more important, than quality in grassroots advocacy, because a high number of calls indicates to a legislator that many people in their district care about an issue. As you monitor the issue, call back to ask for specific support or action as appropriate to the process. Ten Tips for Writing/Emailing Your Legislator Writing a letter to your legislator offers you the opportunity to give more information that you could in a phone call. It can also be an effective strategy for following up on a phone call, visit, or email. The disadvantage to writing letters is that they do not have the opportunity to ask questions, state their position, or respond to a specific request. For these reasons, you might consider following your letter with a phone call or visit for more interaction. E-mail has changed the way that we communicate and in many ways has replaced other forms of communication, such as phone calls or handwritten letters. This technological tool is fast, cheap, and efficient. However, because it is a fast and relatively informal means of communication, many legislators view it as less credible than other methods. 1. Begin by stating that you are a constituent. Make sure that you write your return address on the envelope, so that the legislator’s office staff knows immediately

FAQs

How can I prepare for a call to my legislator?

Plan what you will say ahead of time and keep the message simple and brief. Identify your request (such as supporting a specific bill) in as few words as possible.

What should I do if I cannot reach my legislator during the session?

Be ready to speak with staff or leave a message. Obtain the staff person’s full name and treat them with respect.

How do I improve the chance my letter or email will be read?

Start by clearly stating you are a constituent and use a subject line that reflects that. Personalize the message with research, personal examples, and local references, and keep the request concise.

Sep 15, 2026

Uploaded by Mimi