Congressional recess is a special time. It’s when Members of Congress (MoCs) come back to their home districts for extended periods of time to meet with their constituents and hold public events. These recess periods are when your MoCs prefer to hold town halls, ribbon cuttings, and otherwise garner good local press for themselves.
As in February, the upcoming recess is a great opportunity for your group to remind your MoCs that they need to stand up for you—and that means standing up and speaking out against the Trump agenda.
During the first recess period, thousands of you showed up to ask your MoCs hard, vital questions about whether they’ll resist the Trump agenda. And your hard work is already paying off. You defeated TrumpCare: the Republican plan, seven years in the making, to strip healthcare away from 24 million Americans just three months into the Congressional calendar. No one thought we could do it—but you called, you showed up, and, ultimately, you stopped TrumpCare from becoming law. But we aren’t done yet. We’re just getting started.
Below are some expanded tips and strategies on how to maximize this opportunity to influence your MoCs. Keep it up. This is working. We can win.
This section describes how to prepare for a town hall in five simple steps. First, find out when and where the Town Hall will be held. Second, advertise it. Third, hold a group meeting to prepare for it. Fourth, develop a set of questions that you want your MoC to answer at the Town Hall. Finally, create your own media strategy to get press coverage for it.
I Can’t Find Any Information About My Moc’s Public Events. Now What?
The Indivisible website is a great place to register or check for town halls and other events Indivisible groups in your area are planning during recess. If your MoC is being evasive about when and where they are holding public events, consider registering for email updates from sources that are friendly to your MoC (e.g., your local Chamber of Commerce, state or local Republican or Democratic Parties, and other civic and business interest groups).
This section describes how to maximize the impact of your Town Hall in six simple steps. First, get there early and get organized. Second, make your group’s presence known immediately. Third, tell your stories to your MoC. Fourth, be polite but persistent. Fifth, show your approval or disapproval of your MoC’s answers as appropriate. Finally, record and share everything.
A Note on Safety and Privilege
We do not yet know how Trump supporters will respond to organized shows of opposition, but we have seen enough to be very concerned that minorities will be targeted or singled out. Plan your actions to ensure that no one is asked to take on a role that they are not comfortable with—especially those roles that call for semi-confrontational behavior—and be mindful of the fact that not everyone is facing an equal level of threat. Members of your group who enjoy more privilege should think carefully about how they can ensure that they are using their privilege to support other members of the group. If you are concerned about potential law enforcement intimidation, consider downloading your state’s version of the ACLU Mobile Justice app to ensure that any intimidating behavior is captured on film. Please familiarize yourself with your state and local laws that govern recording, along with any applicable Senate or House rules, prior to recording video or audio. These laws and rules vary substantially from jurisdiction to jurisdiction.
Kati Mcfarland of Ozark Indivisible to Senator Tom Cotton
“My family has been in the Ozarks since the 1800s. We are historically a Republican family, we are a farming family, we’re an NRA family, and we’re a military family. Now, aside from inheriting their patriotism and their work ethic, I also unfortunately inherited an incurable connective tissue disorder called Ehler-Danlos Syndrome, also known as EDS. EDS weakens my heart and my veins, it paralyzes my stomach, it affects and weakens my immune system. I qualify for Medicare, but it’s useless for me since there are only two doctors within 500 miles of me who are familiar with EDS and accept Medicare. Without the coverage for pre-existing conditions, I will die. That is not hyperbole. I will die. Without the protections against lifetime coverage caps, I will die. Without the Obamacare or ACA exchange health care plan that I will be able to purchase after my Cobra coverage expires when I turn 26 this coming Sunday, I will die. You have talked a lot about exercising caution when it comes to repealing the ACA–that it has to be repeal and replace. But it doesn’t seem to me that you or anyone in your party is doing much to ensure the replacement part. So my specific question is, You talk a lot about the repeal, but you haven’t offered any specifics on the replacement. Will you commit, today, to replacement protections for Arkansans like me who will die or lose their quality of life in the same way that you have committed to repealing the ACA?”
This section describes what to do after your Town Hall in three simple steps. First, reach out to the press. Second, share all of your images and videos. Finally, thank your MoC—and tell them that one town hall is not enough.