One of Retake Our Democracy’s most important objectives is to make it easy for you to advocate effectively. We have organized this tool kit for anyone interested in being active in the 2021 New Mexico Legislative Session. Below you will find links to tools and resources that we have developed to facilitate your advocacy. But the single most important thing you can do right now, is ask 3-4 friends to join you in your advocacy. Send them a link to this page and ask them to be part of an advocacy team in their Senate District. Senator Wirth said that the single most effective advocacy strategy is for teams of constituents to meet with their legislator and that is precisely our plan. Let’s Do This!

• How to Stay Informed: Subscribe to our blog, published 4 days a week, to stay informed on a variety of issues — local, state, and national. And subscribe to our Statewide Alert system, which is primarily active during the legislative sessions. Our Alerts notify you when bills we support are being heard in committee or being voted on in the Senate or House floor. We send you info on the bills, contact info for legislators voting, and speaking points. We also keep you updated on votes, which bills pass, and which die. Subscribe to the blog and/or Alerts at this link.
• Bills We Are Supporting in 2021: We currently have 15 “Transformational” bills, our highest priority, and 28 Priority Bills. These bills are the focus of our Alerts before and during the session. In early January, new bills might be added and some may be removed or opposed if the bill language changes in ways we can’t support. Click here to review our bills.
• Our 2021 Legislative Advocacy Strategy: We are initiating advocacy earlier for the 2021 Session, with teams forming in Nov-Dec, and contact with legislators (primarily Democratic Senators) beginning in December. Learn more about our strategy and how you can get involved at this link. Since we are organizing advocacy teams by Senate district, this is a great way to meet other like-minded advocates who live nearby and could even be neighbors. How fun!
• Role of a Senate District Advocacy Team Coordinator: Coordinators are vital to the success of the Network effort, but we’ve made it simple, providing you with tools, scripts and resources. Follow this link to a full description of the role.
• Role of a Senate District Team Member: It’s easy to write a few emails to your Senator before and during the session, but by first participating in a Zoom meeting with your team members and your Senator, your voice will carry considerably more weight. There is little time involved in being a team member — Retake leadership and your District Team Coordinator will make it easy for you to add your voice effectively. Learn more about being a team member at this link.
• How to Identify Your Senate District and Senator. Use this link to find your Senate District. Provide your address and the nmlegis.gov website provides your district and name of your Senator. Click on his/her picture to get contact info.
• How to Identify Your House District and Representative. Use this link to find your House District. Provide your address and the nmlegis.gov website provides your district and name of your Senator. Click on the photo for contact info.
• Contact Info for All 27 Democratic Senators. This list comes from candidate filing reports and is public information. It is much better than the contact info on nmlegis.gov as it provides personal email and cell numbers so you can text them. Over time we will develop a list for all legislators, House and Senate, Democrats and Republicans. Go here to access the contact list.
• How to Conduct a Doodle Poll to Easily Identify the Best Time for a Meeting. Doodle is free and makes it almost effortless to identify a good meeting time for a group of people. Click here for a step by step guide, with screenshots, etc.
• How to Set Up a Zoom Meeting. Once you’ve used Doodle to identify a time, sending a Zoom invite is next. Zoom is free for up to 40-minute meetings, but we are developing an inventory of Zoom accounts that can be be used by Retake Coordinators. Click here for a step-by-step guide with screenshots.
• Media List & Guide for Writing Letters to the Editor. We provide sample letters and links to the 10 largest daily newspapers in NM, plus a host of smaller media outlets, especially useful in rural NM. Writing letters to the editor is a great way not only to help inform the broader community, but to recruit members to your team or to the larger effort by closing the LTE with info about the Statewide Advocacy Network. The exposure is noticed not just by your Senator, but by other legislators who read the publication. Go here for media tips.