How to email your legislator
A short email from a constituent, about one bill, in your own words: the message an office logs and answers.
Before you write
- Find who represents your address, and write to your own members first.
- Have the bill number and title, and decide whether you support or oppose it.
- Use the office's own email address or contact form. Many members of Congress take messages only through the form on their website.
- Put your street address in the message. Offices check it to see whether you are a constituent.
The template
A short letter or email
Subject: A constituent's request about [bill number or issue] Dear [Senator or Representative] [last name], My name is [your name], and I live in [your city], in your district. I'm writing to ask you to [support or oppose] [bill number and title]. [One or two sentences on how it affects you, your family, your work or your community.] Thank you for considering my view. I'd appreciate a reply letting me know where you stand. Sincerely, [Your name] [Street address, city, ZIP] [Phone] · [Email]
Replace everything in brackets, and add a sentence of your own: it is the part staff read most closely.
What happens next
Staff log the message by issue and position, and many offices answer with a letter or an email. If the bill comes to a vote, write again to say what you would like them to do, and once more afterwards to thank them or to say you noticed.
Running a campaign, not writing one letter?
Book a free grassroots advocacy session. We'll walk through reaching the right offices with your supporters, then run a one-click campaign with our grassroots advocacy software that sends personalized messages from your whole list.
More from the advocacy guide
Need 500 people to send this before the vote?
Run it as a campaign. Each supporter's message goes to their own legislators, matched by street address, and message versions rotate so offices see varied mail, not 500 copies of one letter.