Make Your Calls Effective

Are you looking to turn your despair into action? Here’s how to make effective calls to your U.S. senators and representatives. This advice comes from a high-level Senate staffer via Debi Jackson on Facebook, and from the Indivisible co-founders — former congressional staffers who know how things work in those offices.

After in-person meetings, CALLS ARE THE BEST WAY TO CONTACT your Members of Congress (MOC). MOC have offices in DC, but they also have offices in their home district. Target phone calls to your local office and you’ll have an easier time getting their attention. And while it should go without saying, only contact your own representatives. 

For Senate Issues:

You should make 4 calls a day per issue/nomination:

2 each (DC office and your local office) to your 2 Senators

Put the 4 numbers in your phone which makes it really easy to click down the list each day.

Warren DC Office 202 224-4543, MA Office 617 565-3170

Markey DC Office 202 224-2742, MA Office 617 565-8519

Not from MA?  Find your Senators

For House Issues:

You should make 2 calls a day per issue/nomination: the DC office and the regional office.

Put the 2 numbers in your phone which makes it really easy to click down the list each day.

Find your Members of Congress- don’t forget their regional offices!

Why call both offices?  They aren’t cross-referencing lists 

Why call and not write or email?  Calls are what all the congresspeople pay attention to.  Snail mail letters are too slow, especially with security screening.  Emails are often not tallied.  If they are not tallied, they are worthless.

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. She said that 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, and that’s recently pushed Democratic congressmen on the fence to vote with the Republicans. In the last 8 years, Republicans have called, and Democrats haven’t.

So, when you call:

  • If you leave a message- be clear and concise.  One issue per phone call.  Follow the directions about what information to leave.  Do not use profanity.
  • If you get a person, be sure to ask their name, and tell them you want a reply. Keep track.
  • Bonus but rare:  When calling the DC office, 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, awesome. If you don’t, that’s ok — ask for that person’s name, and then just keep talking to whoever answered the phone. 
  • They may get to know your voice or name — it doesn’t matter. The people answering the phones generally turn over every 6 weeks, so a new person will soon be tallying messages or answering the phone.

Contact your School Committee

ACTION TO FIGHT BACK in MA!

Contact your School Committee/Board and share this  SAFE SCHOOLS FOR EVERY STUDENT – TOOLKIT – It includes Activist Actions you can take and best practice Policies to share with your School Committee/Board, PTA/O, School Superintendent, school district staff, etc. This guide is from the National Education Association’s Guidance on Immigration Issues.

Safe Schools for Every Student Toolkit

Text with Movement Labs

Update 2/2/25 Movement Labs is texting about the Nominations – asking people to call their Senators. This is the only way we can reach Senators that are not our own!

10/21/24 After a slow start, texting is finally available consistently. Unlike past years, you will mostly just respond to replies. If you haven’t texted yet this year, you may need to sign up for SPOKE again, but your SLACK login will still work. Email Christine@IndivisibleActon.org if you need help.

9/6/24 Movement Labs has many campaigns to choose from – if you want to text consistently, this is the place for you!

2/14/24 Political texting is an easy and fun way to reach younger voters, especially those who may only have a cell phone. Movement Labs is texting now for many grassroots groups. Want personal training for you or your group? Email Christine@IndivisibleActon.org. Or use the button below to get started directly in Movement Labs.

Returning Volunteers w/ Refresher Training
New Volunteer sign up

***Note: if you trained with me before, your SLACK log-in is still valid. You may need to create a new SPOKE account to access current texting campaigns.

6/9/23 I attended a presentation by Focus 4 Democracy, who funded many texting programs through Movement Labs. Although we participated on the other end (volunteers sending the texts) it was very encouraging to hear the in-depth statistical analysis proving that these programs were not only cost effective, they yeilded a higher turnout in all the key states.

Movement Labs uses the program SPOKE to text for all kinds of democratic organizations. It could be texting people to ask them to Run for Something, or join an event, or vote in an election. The campaigns vary throughout the week. You can see what is available and choose what you are interested in. This is a great way to make a difference if you have only small blocks of time!

If you trained with me last year, just go onto your Movement Labs SLACK to see what’s new! You will need to sign up for SPOKE again to refresh your credential. There is continuous support if you have a question. Need a refresher or training? Email Christine@IndivisibleActon.org

You can also use the web portal to get training directly from Movement Labs, see the upcoming list of campaigns, and TEXT!

Indivisible National: Take Action Now!

This link to current actions will be updated by National Indivisible!

Indivisible National Take Action Now!

We expect MAGA’s strategy of “flooding the zone” to continue for the first 100 days at least. We saw this last time too. Unpopular or illegal actions? Check your news feed Friday night. Announcements getting outrage? Watch out, an even worse one will soon distract you. Events are moving fast, so we are linking directly to Indivisible National’s Take Action webpage. You will find explanations and context as well as effective actions to take.

We are making a difference – remember some of these are test balloons to see if anyone cares. Spoiler alert: WE CARE AND WE ARE WATCHING.

Volunteer at the International Institute of New England

Indivisible Acton Area and Indivisible LAB are delivering two carloads of cleaning supplies to the International Institute of New England that were collected at the Help Over Hate Service Huddle on January 20th. This collection drive is completed, but there are more ways to volunteer!

Volunteers needed for:

*Provide ESOL Support to Adult Language Learners
*Help Set Up Apartments for Newly Arriving Refugees
*Provide Career Support to Prepare Clients for Interviews
*Transport Clients to and from Medical Appointments

IINE has offices in Boston, Lowell and Manchester. Refugees are resettled in many areas.

Want to form a community support group? IINE has a Community Resettlement Program. Community sponsorship is a collaborative effort between carefully selected groups of volunteers and agency resettlement staff, working together
under a formal agreement to prepare for and welcome refugees in their communities. Some of the core services sponsor groups provide include
locating and setting up appropriate housing, providing airport pick-ups, assisting with school enrollment, and offering cultural orientation.

Learn More!

Virginia Grassroots Groups to Support Now

Grassroot groups are special because they work in their communities throughout every year, regardless of when elections happen, or who won the last one.  Virginia is one of the few states with elections for Governor and the state legislature this year.  Here are three organizations working hard for the people in Virginia.

Donate

Rural Groundgame  Being able to directly contact well over 2 million voters and offer some level of support to over 100 campaigns is no small feat for a small, scrappy organization reaching volunteers and voters far off the radar of other progressive organizations making investments only in the cities and suburbs.

Your donations help them defy the accepted (and too often unquestioned) “wisdom” of investing exclusively in urban and suburban districts.

Donate

New Virginia Majority  works to create a powerful multi-issue, multi-racial movement to transform Virginia through large-scale civic engagement, issue advocacy, and strategic communications and community organizing.

Working-class communities of color have been shut out, silenced and ignored in Virginia, fueling widespread injustice in the state. NVM builds the power of marginalized communities to change the political systems that aren’t working for us.

NVM organizes within Latinx, African American, Asian American, Pacific Islander and youth communities, centering the leadership and demands of working-class women of color. Together, they vote, mobilize and engage to end mass incarceration, build just economic policies, protect immigrants and preserve the environment.

Donate

Network Nova is a grassroots organizing hub run by the unstoppable, badass, fearless women of Network NOVA. We inspire, inform and empower each other and our allies for powerful year-round political action.

Our motto is When We Vote, We Win! We create opportunities for political engagement and civic participation through our annual Women’s Summit, Friday Power Lunch video podcast, BADASS Briefing with political actions and news, Postcards4VA state-wide postcard writing program, and many more events and actions throughout the year.  Support Network NOVA and the work of the Virginia Grassroots!

Find more Recommended Groups

Indivisible: A Practical Guide to Democracy on the Brink

We have a big advantage while fighting authoritarianism this cycle: the past 8 years of creating infrastructure and developing strategies. Indivisible has now released their new guide for 2025 through the Midterms, tailored for fighting in this moment.

Read this, bookmark this, and refer back to this whenever you need inspiration or guidance. These strategies work – they just need your energy to implement them.

How to Use this Guide

One Page Summary

Chapter 1: What Happened and Why it Matters

Chapter 2: A Quick Primer on Constituent Power

Chapter 3: The Plan to Get Through the Next Two Years

Chapter 4: Protecting People and Operating Under Authoritarian Creep

Chapter 5: Form or Find Your Own Indivisible Group

Conclusion

Want to Share this Guide? Use this Link.

Looking for Specific Blue State Guidance?

Democrats Safeguarding Democracy: A Blueprint for Blue States to Fight Trump 2.0

Feeling frustrated that we have all Democratic elected officials and “they already know what to do”? Guess what – they don’t! In fact, they mostly just hear loud attacks from the MAGA minority, and we need to make sure they hear from us, the actual majority.

Our job as Blue state residents is to push them to protect us (and our neighbors if possible) – even if it prods them out of their comfort zone. The Indivisible Guide Chapter 2: A Quick Primer on Constituent Power explains how and why.

Luckily we have more Blue state trifectas to work with this time around. Ezra Levin, Co-Founder of Indivisible, came to talk to the Indivisible Mass Coalition – our statewide organization. The key take away: When making “an ask” of your elected official, make sure it is SPECIFIC, has a DEADLINE, and is MEASURABLE. We will be pressing our Governor, Legislature, and Attorney General to take action to protect us, and our neighbors from authoritarianism.

Sign up for Indivisble Mass Coalition
Newsletter and Action Alerts
Read Indivisible’s specific guidance for Blue States
and Take Action
Slide Show from IMC Presentation
Full Indivisible Guide

Resistance Timeline

Resistance leader Robert Hubbell posted the following in his Substack. It provides an excellent and useful guide to of what the next four years under Trump is likely to look like.

To avoid exhaustion in the face of four more years of Trump, we should be thinking about resisting Trump in a series of discrete, shorter time periods. Thinking about our resistance in “phases” can help us be more strategic and relieve artificial pressure from our shoulders.

Between today and the Inauguration (January 20, 2025), Joe Biden is still president and can take steps to appoint judges and implement policies in a way that will delay or defeat efforts to undo Biden’s accomplishments.

After the Inauguration, Trump and his enablers will face the daunting task of embedding themselves in a massive federal government while they undertake their promised deportation of 10 million immigrants. That period will last eighteen months and will be a daily challenge. But then, the 2026 midterms will get underway. Trump’s congressional supporters will be concerned about re-election—a concern that may cause them to re-think their loyalty to Trump. Our leverage and messaging opportunities will increase.

In the last two years of his presidency, Trump will be a lame duck.  The internal GOP struggle to replace Trump will be in full swing and Trump will be fighting with his party as much as he will be fighting with Democrats.

The point: While we cannot relent, the period of maximal effort will be the next twenty months (Dec and January, plus eighteen months before the 2026 midterms). What happens after that depends on whether Democrats retake the House in 2026.

So, rather than thinking about Trump’s tenure as a four-year unbroken battle, break up the periods of resistance into smaller periods. Doing so is realistic, smart, and healthy. We are in this battle for the long term. We can’t burn ourselves out with outrage and freneticism. We have a job to do. Let’s do it in a measured but passionate way. That will increase our chances for success.

Fight Back Now! Congressional Contact

Now is a good time to delve into Congressional contact—our most powerful tool for influencing the work of Congress. 

Is Congressional contact really effective?

You might be surprised to know just how much of a difference making a phone call or writing an email can be. Take the example of HR 9495 in the last session of Congress. In a first House vote, a stunning 52 Democrats voted yes in support of the bill, which would have given the Treasury Secretary the authority to revoke the tax-exempt status of nonprofits. For the second House vote (a simple majority vote), only 15 Democrats voted yes. The difference? Many Democratic representatives switched their Yea votes to Nay in response to constituent pushback against the bill. Contacting our Congressional members is one of our most powerful tools for influencing legislation. 

Does your congressperson really pay attention when you contact them?

Yes they do! Your opinions are valuable to them and are treated with care. Contacts from constituents are first received and catalogued by congressional staffers—even those messages left on answering machines. Calls also may be answered live by staffers who may engage you in discussion. Your message content is then relayed to your lawmaker to help guide them in setting legislative priorities and agendas.  Congressional offices note that calls are more effective than writing because calls are faster to arrive and log in. Emails or letters may arrive too late to influence votes or other actions.

Why is calling or writing so powerfully important?

1. Re-election: Calls to your House Reps or Senators effectively signal how likely you might be to vote for them in the next election. So of course, they’re all ears! Support or criticism is equally important, they’re both useful feedback.

2. Numbers matter: High numbers of calls build pressure and urgency for upcoming votes. You can also be your lawmaker’s ally on issues you both agree on. Being able to cite large numbers of calls or emails on a given issue helps your congressperson defend their position on it. 

3. Continual participation in the electoral process: Constituents can help shape issues as they develop into legislation. In non-election years, you may not have an opportunity to vote on items that are really important to you, but you can still influence current votes being taken in Congress. Active constituency ideally should be year-round. 

Congressional contact is a quick,easy, and important form of activism. 

Even your 1-minute phone call has a positive impact, and it’s simple to do. Assistance is provided by the nonprofit 5calls (https://5calls.org/), who makes this an easy and manageable task. In addition, organizers’ requests for you to contact Congress on a subject typically include clear instructions and a sample script that you can copy directly or personalize as you wish. And if you feel inspired by a cause or issue, definitely consider contacting your congressperson independently with your own message. Your views may end up directly influencing legislation!

Here’s how to find your Congressional Members:

https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

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