AFA often calls on members and supporters to contact their Representatives or Members of Congress (MoC). If you’re thinking, “ok, but, how?” look no further. Here we present, How to Find Your Reps:

First, it’s worth noting that you have three representatives at the federal level in Washington D.C.: two Senators in the Senate and one Representative in the House of Representatives.

Your Two Senators

Senators are elected every six years and they both represent the entire state.

To find your two senators, go to www.senate.gov, click on ‘Find Your Senators’ in the top left-hand corner, and select your state. Boom. Done!

After you’ve landed on your state’s page on senate.gov, you’ll see pictures of your two senators with links to their contact pages. Follow those links and instructions for contacting them.

Here’s what a portion of the Montana page looked like as of May 2, 2021:

(In case you’re interested, read what Senator Tester said about Ag industry consolidation at a Senate Ag Committee Hearing in April 2021.)

Your Representative

You’re represented by one person in the House of Representatives. Each Rep represents a Congressional district within a state. In general, each district contains about 800,000 people. Reps are elected every two years.

To find your Representative, go to house.gov and type your zip code into the text box at the top right-hand side of the page, and let the fun begin.

If you’re lucky, your zip code is fully contained within your Congressional district. For example, the 04101 zip code is in the Maine 1st Congressional district.

If you’re not so lucky, your zip code spans multiple Congressional districts. For example, if you live in the 21012 zip code, you could be in district 3 or district 4. In that case, you’ll need to specify your address in order to definitively identify your Member of Congress who represents you in the U.S. House of Representatives.

Once you know who your representative is, simply click on their name to link to their official house.gov website. Find the contact form and follow the instructions for sending them a message.

Many activist groups offer easy-peasy one-click buttons to fire off pre-written emails to representatives. AFA doesn’t. Why? Because it’s our current understanding that at best, those form letters are ignored, and at worst, those form letters annoy Congressional staffers. Also, if you’re going to bother to contact your reps, we’d rather you write from your heart, and take a few minutes to put some thought into it. If you’re not sure how to craft a compelling message, here are some useful guidelines.

So, that was the skinny on how to find your reps. Good luck and thank you for working with AFA to bring fairness to U.S. farm policy!