Make 2026 the year you call your elected representatives

22 Dec, 2025

phone call

Time to Read: 8 min

As the year comes to a close, many of use are reflecting on 2025 and thinking about how next year will be different. We are considering a New Year's resolution. We will think about the plans we know are coming up. Most of us probably hope that 2026 will be easier than 2025.

While you take time over the next few weeks to think about this, I want to pitch a New Year's resolution to potentially add to your list. Make 2026 the year you call your elected representatives.

What are we going to talk about?

First I'm going to explain the severity of the situation we're facing.
Then I will give you a starting point for how you can consider calling your representatives. Whether you want to call your reps at least once in the new year or you want to figure out how to make calling a regular part of your life, I'll provide different options that have helped me be consistent.

My hope is that I can get you to at least consider engaging in the civic process with phone calls. I know it can be an odd thing to do when you've never done it before, but it will be key in solving many challenges.

We have a big problem on our hands

MTEC is a club that in part focuses on digital freedom. Technology should work for us rather than us working for technology. There are many ways to enjoy things like computers, social media, phones, video games, and more. However, there many ways in which companies and governments use those things to take advantage of us. While we have options to forge our own path where we are in control, we are increasingly losing that freedom.

As I shared in our first blog post, 2025 has been the worst year for digital freedom and digital rights in a decade. We have seen attempts to erase privacy online through identity (or age) verification laws in half of all US states. As people have found ways to preserve privacy through VPNs, states have begun asking if VPNs should be banned. Texas, Utah, and Louisiana have passed laws that require Apple and Google to identify all users who use their app stores, killing privacy if you want to use any applications besides those which come preinstalled on your phone. And these state initiatives have counterparts that are trying to get passed at the federal level - 19 in fact. These are bills which seek to control what people can do on the internet, censor content, effectively eliminate free online spaces, and require your identification for all that you do, which could have consequences in the offline world as well as online.

America is not alone in its desire to copy China's surveillance state. The United Kingdom got ahead of us when their Online Safety Act went into affect this summer. Basically every harm that experts said would happen came true, including devastating breaches of personal information that only started to be collected because of the Online Safety Act. In response, British citizens started using VPNs to get around this, and now the UK is considering mandating identity verification for using VPNs, requiring on-device surveillance, and threatening to go after end-to-end encrypted messengers. Australia's social media ban for minors, which requires identity verification, went into affect this month. The European Union wants to scan all citizens' messages and photos. The desire to strip people of digital freedom is spanning the globe.

We need to do something about this

The situation is bleak. What can we do?

We can call our elected representatives.

Unlike China, Russia, and Iran where the people do not have a voice in their government, we do. We live in a democracy where our representatives and senators, and even presidents, have to listen to their constituents. If not, we vote them out.

Ideally we could trust that the people we elect will look out for our needs as competing interests jostle for power. In reality it is often businesses and special interests who can pay lobbyists to get in the ear of our representatives. Instead of being represented by them, we end up needing to stand up separate advocacy groups to apply pressure to our elected reps just to get them to do the right thing. MTEC is one such group.

How can we apply pressure? By calling our representatives. They all want to stay in power. They don't want to upset their constituents. Often times they count on us not paying attention in order to do whatever they want, letting a special interest steamroll over us as they neglect their responsibilities. However, when we pick up the phone and call them, we are showing that we know exactly what they're up to and that we're engaged.

When dozens, hundreds, thousands of us call about these issues, our reps can't ignore us. They are forced to make a choice. Push ahead and risk being voted out, or listen to their constituents. The more people call, the more pressure they feel, and the more likely it is that they listen to us. That's why it takes not just you calling, but as many people as possible! That's why I'm writing this blog post - so we can be more effective when we call!

How to call your elected representative

"So we just pick up the phone and call them and tell them what we think?"

Yes, pretty much.

Basic prep

First, let's find all the phone numbers of your elected reps. Go to the following pages, look for the options to find your elected politicians, and you will find the phone numbers for your:

In this case I'm writing specifically for my audience in Miami, but you can find your state representation with a quick web search.

Note that they have several phone numbers. I recommend calling the capitol offices, but you are more than welcome to call the other offices if you are sent to voicemail. Leaving a voicemail also counts as a call!

Second, identify what you are going to call about. Generally speaking it can be about any issue you're aware of, but for our purposes you can find issues to call about in our Action Center. Depending on the issue, that will determine who you call.

Third, find five minutes in your day and make the calls. This is how I normally start my call whether I get someone on the line or have to leave a voicemail.

Hi, my name is Joseph $last_name, I'm a constituent in Miami, and my ZIP code is 90210.

It's important that you give your name and ZIP code because the office you are calling needs to know that you are actually one of their constituents. If you're not, they don't really care what you have to say.

If you get someone on the line, you can say you'd like to leave a legislative opinion. Then they'll give you time to share.

Below is an example I would do for the repeal of Section 230 if I got sent to voicemail.

Hi, my name is Joseph $last_name, I'm a constituent in Miami, and my ZIP code is 90210.

I'm calling in regards to the recent moves in Congress to repeal Section 230 of the Communications Act. Section 230 is foundational to a free and open internet where we can connect with others with free speech. To repeal this law would be to undermine the modern digital world as we know it, entrench Big Tech's monopolies on information and attention, and destroy the ability of all Americans to live and speak freely online.

I demand that Senator Rick Scott protect Section 230. Thank you for your time.

When you're actually talking to someone on the phone you can share a little more. Always remember to be respectful, especially since the person you're talking to is just an aide. Be adamant.

Call all the reps who are relevant to your issue. That's pretty much it!

Next level

If you want to go further with this, the next step you can take is simply to make a note of the phone numbers and watch for future calls to action.

For the phone numbers, you can make a note on your phone, like in the Notes app or whatever you prefer, and write down all your politicians' names, titles, and phone numbers. You can also write the numbers of the non-capitol offices. You could add them to your contacts as another option, but I like having everything in one note so that I can go faster.

When it comes to being ready for the next call, you need to put yourself in a place to hear about important news. Of course you can follow us on social media as we boost calls to action. You can also directly follow organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation or Fight for the Future as they are really paying attention to what is happening all over the country.

Be ready to make calls. Kick those butterflies out of your stomach. Taking these steps will be a huge help to the digital rights movement!

Making it a habit

If you wanted to go further still, you can think about how often you want to call. The reality is that there is almost always something you can call your politicians about, and you can even call about the same things over and over again. The point is to apply pressure, not to check a box and move on. We are interested in results, not participation. Making a plan to call on a regular basis is the last piece in the puzzle for maximizing your civic engagement in this way.

Set a reminder for when you want to call. Personally, I have a reminder go off every weekday at 11:30 AM so that I can make a call during my lunch break. It can be in a todo app or an alarm - whatever works for you. Set it to be daily, weekly, every other week, again based on what you are comfortable signing up for. Then make the calls when your reminder goes off.

Bonus tip: use HabitKit. I've enjoyed using it as a way to track how often I do certain things. The one below is my tracker for advocacy. It's not all phone calls, but it's mostly phone calls. When the world looks rough, it helps to be able to see this tracker with so many squares filled in and know that I have at least done something to fight for a better future.

Besides that there's not much more to it. It's a matter of making the commitment to call more and then sticking to your plan. The work is simple, the homework is almost always done for you, and the impact you will have as you are joined by thousands of other people will be massive.

I hope you will consider making at least one phone call to your politicians in the new year. The situation is not looking great outside. You need to ask yourself what you're going to do in the face of it. The time to take action is now, before it's too late. I hope you see that the inconvenience of contacting your representatives is worth it. 📞

Written by Joseph, Organizer for MTEC

Wants to see the world get better.