It’s important to know who your Members of Congress are and how you can stay up to date with their actions and get in touch with them when needed. At the federal level, U.S. citizens that live in one of the 50 states (not including Washington D.C. or other U.S. territories) have two Senators that represent your state and one Representative that is elected by a localized district. Building relationships with your Members of Congress is important so that they can better represent you in Washington, DC.

Find your Members

• Visit www.congress.gov, which is a website that gives you access to bill language, Congressional activity, contact information, and more.
• On the right hand side of this home page, navigate to the “Contact Your Member” section and input your address.

Get in Contact

• From here, you will see more information about your legislators including the address and phone number of their Washington, DC offices.
• Click Contact to be sent to their individual websites where you will be directed to a form where you may write a message or sign up for a newsletter. On this page will also be phone numbers and addresses for the Member’s district offices.

Request a Meeting or Town Hall

• On each Member’s website there will be an option to “Request a Meeting” either via a form directly on the website or via email. A town hall can be requested through the same mechanism.
• Once you submit a request for a meeting or town hall, follow up by calling the district office to reiterate your request and make yourself available for any questions the staff may have.

Reminders

• Your Members of Congress may not be available to meet with, but it is just as important to speak with their staff.
• Always follow up after engaging with your legislators and their staff by thanking them and offering yourself as a resource if that is helpful.
• If you need information on a topic to reach out to your Members about or help setting up an agenda for a meeting, send an email to psrnatl@psr.org.

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