5 Practical Ways to Effectively Influence Your Local Representative

In today’s political culture many wonder if they can make an impact on policies. Many think that politicians today are too stubborn to change their views. Many believe that their voice isn’t enough to make real change.

This view couldn’t be further from the truth. The seminar “Do’s and Don’t’s for Effective Pro-Life Lobbying” at the National Right to Life Convention earlier this year provided five key examples of how anyone can influence their representative.

Relationships Are Key.

The major theme throughout the whole seminar was that having a relationship with the representative is the key to effectively impacting the representative. Former Wisconsin State Assemblyman Chad Weininger emphasized that “those who formed relationships with me had the greatest impact on me while in office.”

A good relationship with the representative is the key to being able to influence them. By building a long-term relationship you demonstrate to your representative that you care not only about them but the community that their policies will affect.

Many representatives at the state and local level want to develop long-term relationships with their constituents. In most cases, if you try to connect with them they will appreciate it and welcome you.

Be Helpful To Your Representative

When constituents are helpful to their representatives their representatives are often helpful in return. If you are a nuisance to your representative you will damage your ability to influence them.

Current Wisconsin State Representative Cody Horlacher explains, “Don’t make it adversarial and yell in public.” Of course, it makes common sense that we wouldn’t want to be yelled at about our job when we are in public with our families so we should respect our representatives in public also. By being adversarial in any way to your representative you’re shutting down a channel of communication.

By bringing positive attention to your representative they will notice. If your representative just wrote legislation on a bill that you care about write a letter to the editor on how your representative is making a positive impact on the community. If you own a business invite the representative to tour your facility and send him a thank you letter for coming. If it’s campaign season offer to volunteer time and money to help the candidate with door knocking, phone calls, endorsements, donations, letters to the editor.

Know And Utilize Their Sweet Spot

It’s extremely easy for constituents to assume that their main issues should also be the representatives’. In order to effectively influence the representative the constituent should understand where their representatives sweet spot is along with the demographics of the district.

Know which committees your representative is assigned to and understand that they have the most influence on those issues. For example, my State Representative Jeremy Thiesfeldt is the chairman of Wisconsin’s Education Committee. As a committee chair, he has more control over future legislation and thus is even more important to contact. Reaching out to him on education issues could have significantly larger impacts than say agricultural issues, which he is less likely to have influence over.  

Make an effort to learn about the district your representative actually represents. Demographics, local industries, resources, and unique challenges hugely influence your elected officials’ priorities. If your district is home more urban and dense your representatives will obviously face different issues than someone from a more rural area.

Representative Horlacher believes that it is important in understanding why representatives make the decisions they do. He states, “Representatives have to represent folks from all different areas and this causes them to not always be as ‘voicetrous’ on issues that they may believe in.” Horlacher went on to give an example of how a representative in a swing-district might be extremely pro-life but is better off letting other representatives author pro-life legislation if they are in a safer district.

By understanding the representatives sweet spot along with the district a constituent can make a positive impact on influencing their positions.

Win Their Hearts With Personal Stories

One of the best ways to impact your representative is through personal stories of how legislation can affect you and those you know. Representatives love to hear personal stories from their constituents because it allows them to make better informed decisions while also being able to be shared to form their colleagues opinions.

Representative Horlacher gave an example of how personal stories have changed his position on the life issue. Horlacher claimed that during his first term he was pro-life with exception to rape due to his background as a prosecutor. He stated that due to multiple constituents personal stories over coffee and events he was invited to he changed his belief to be pro-life without an exception to rape. Horlacher stated what changed his belief was a personal story he was told from a woman conceived in rape that told him, “right now my life doesn’t matter to you.” Horlacher explained that by understanding this woman’s personal story he had his head turned on the issue.

Not everyone has a personal story this powerful, so try to recruit friends, family, and other community members who can speak to issues like this in their own lives. Never make up stories or exaggerate the details, otherwise representatives and the community will forever ignore you.  By explaining to your representative how legislation and issues affect you in your everyday life they will be sympathetic to understanding your beliefs and more likely to capture onto them.

Be Their Friend. Ask Them For Coffee

Elected officials are people too. By treating them like a friend you can have a greater impact on their policies. Chad Weininger said a practical way to influence him was to call him up and say, “Hey, Chad can we grab a coffee and discuss some issues.” Representative Horlacher claimed that as a representative he prefers meeting with constituents in the community over coffee or a meal rather than in an office with paperwork.

By inviting your representative to get a coffee you’ll create a deeper bond and relationship that can’t take place in an office setting.

Overall, by developing and building long-term relationships with your representatives you can make an impact in your community to make an impact on their votes, legislation, and beliefs.