You’ve reviewed our bills; you’ve read our strategy, and you want to get involved. This page lays out exactly how to form your own Legislative Advocacy Team and/or participate in one.

What could be more rewarding than working with a team of friends and neighbors, building a relationship with your NM State Senator, and advocating effectively for a host of bills that can transform NM and deliver desperately needed relief and support to our essential neighbors?

Let’s get started forming your Legislative Advocacy Team.
If you don’t know your Senate District, click here.

The first step is to contact potential team members. We may be able to get you started with contact info for other advocates in your district, but you can also begin by selecting friends, family, and members of groups you belong to who:

• Live in your District;
• Are strongly Democratic;
• Are likely concerned about social, climate, racial and economic justice; and
• Have at least a little bit of time to devote to this work.

Make it clear to the people you choose that this won’t require a lot of work. You do not have to be an expert on policy or legislation. Retake will provide scripts and bill summaries, but legislators will not expect you to have deep knowledge of the bills — the goal is to make sure they understand that you support specific issues/bills and why. Your advocacy could involve:

• Participating in one or two Zoom conversations with your Senator before the session begins. Not everyone on the Zoom needs to speak about the bill(s), but if the Senator sees several, perhaps dozens, of constituents who share support for the bills, this will give you more influence;
• Recruiting more friends, neighbors, fellow ward members, and others you know live in the District and asking them to be involved;
• Sending emails and/or calling your Senator as specific bills come up for a vote in committee or on the Senate floor, reminding the Senator of your prior conversation;
• Serving as a District Coordinator to maintain a district constituent list.

Using Doodle and Zoom with Your Senate District Advocacy Team

First, send a Doodle poll to your Senator and team members with possible meeting times identified. If you’ve never used Doodle, click here for a step-by-step guide. It is free and very simple.

Once you find a time that works you will send a Zoom invite. If you’ve never done this, we’ve set up a page with step-by-step instructions to setting up a free Zoom account and creating your first meeting. Click here to review that guide.

And here’s a link back to the bills we’ve prioritized, which includes brief summaries that you can review before your Zoom meeting.

Email us at retakeresponse@gmail.com if you have any questions. And please let us know how it goes by posting a comment below. This will encourage others.

Thank you for diving in to this legislative advocacy effort. There is so much at stake!