Indivisible on Offense: A Practical Guide to the New, Democratic House

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This time two years ago, we were lost, angry, and scared. Donald Trump was on the verge of taking power, and we all knew that no one in Washington was prepared to stand up to him. In that moment, we began the original Indivisible Guide  with these lines:

Donald Trump is the biggest popular vote loser in history to ever call himself President-Elect. In spite of the fact that he has no mandate, he will attempt to use his congressional majority to reshape America in his own racist, authoritarian, and corrupt image. If progressives are going to stop this, we must stand indivisibly opposed to Trump and the Members of Congress who would do his bidding. Together, we have the power to resist - and we have the power to win.

Looking back, we think this holds up pretty well.

In 2017, we made Congress listen. Indivisibles went to town halls, die-ins, and district offices. We defeated TrumpCare, rallied for immigrants, and turned the Republican tax cut for the rich and corporations into an enormous political liability. We stiffened Democratic spines and weakened Republican resolve. We couldn’t stop everything — but we did stop a lot.

In 2018, we remade Congress. Indivisibles endorsed candidates, registered voters, phone-banked, and knocked doors. We dragged our friends, family, and strangers to the polls. Drop by drop, we built the blue wave. As a result, this Congress will feature a new generation of bold, diverse leaders, and dozens of Trump-supporting Republicans are out of a job. To be sure, the new political reality is complex, and we didn't get everything we fought for. But we know our next steps, and we're not giving up.

This Guide is for what comes next. The 2016 Indivisible Guide was about using constituent power to defend our values, our neighbors, and our democracy. This Guide is about using our constituent power to go on offense.

Offense is exciting , but it’s more complex than defense. We have the opportunity to use congressional oversight to hold Trump and his cronies accountable. We can set the legislative agenda with a bold progressive vision rooted in inclusion, fairness, and justice. But none of this is automatic — we have to demand it of Congress.

Two years ago, we wrote the Indivisible Guide because we knew that everything we hold dear was under threat. We believed the only chance this country had was for us to come together and mount a powerful nationwide grassroots resistance — one grounded in a fierce commitment to defend progressive values. To stand up for our democracy, and for one another.

We’ve lost a lot since then, but we — along with critical partners — have accomplished so much to take hope from. We resisted. We retook power. And now, with control of the House of Representatives, we will stand indivisible to remake this country. The following pages offer a road map for the next two years of our journey. Together, we will pave the way to the post-Trump era. Together, we will win.

One-Page Summary

Chapter 1: New Congress, New Indivisible Strategy

With the new Democratic House, we finally get to switch from defense to going on offense against Trump. Chapter 1 describes the new tools at our disposal.

Section 1: What’s This New “Agenda-Setting Power” Thing?

With the majority in the House, Democrats now have “agenda-setting power.” This means they can choose what bills get a vote, but it doesn’t mean they can enact laws unilaterally. This section explains what this newfangled power is.

Section 2: Legislative Offense

Now that House Democrats can determine which bills get votes, there are two big opportunities to go on legislative offense in 2019 and 2020:

1. Messaging bills : Democrats can put forward legislation in stark contrast with Trump’s agenda, setting the stage for enactment in 2021.

2. Must-pass bills : Some things (e.g. budgets) have to pass; otherwise the world goes to hell. Democrats now can influence what goes into those bills.

Section 3: Offense Through Oversight and Investigations

For two years, Trump has operated with zero oversight from the Republican Congress. That’s over. House Democrats now have many ways to hold Trump accountable: Subpoena power, investigatory power, congressional-hearings power, and more! This section describes what your  representative can do. Giddyup — it’s gonna be a wild ride.

Section 4: Don’t Forget About Defense

Republicans still control the Senate, and they’ll keep pushing Trump’s agenda. House Democrats will play a critical role in defending against further harm.

Chapter 2: Implementing the New Strategy Locally

How Indivisible groups can push elected officials to use their new powers.

Section 1: Make Good “Asks” to Make Your MoC Act

Members of Congress thrive on ambiguity. To get them to act, you need a specific, strategic, seeable “ask” for which you can hold them accountable.

Section 2: Organize Locally Using Tactics That Work

This section describes three ways to organize locally and effectively:

- Use these 7 advocacy tactics : District office visits, phone calls, earned media, town halls, statewide Indivisible statements, letters to the editor, and op-eds.

- Build your local strength : Expand your local Indivisible group, coordinate with other Indivisibles, and form partnerships across the progressive movement.

- Lean on Indivisible National : We’re here to help. Find out about our resources and how we can help boost your power locally.

Chapter 1: New Congress, New Indivisible Strategy

What does it mean to control the House? What are the new opportunities for House Democrats, and what are the limitations? Most important, what should Democrats do now? We lay out how Democrats should use their new tools to resist the Trump agenda.

In Chapter 1, we cover:

1. What’s this new “agenda-setting power” thing?

2. Legislative offense

3. Offense through oversight, accountability, and investigations

4. Don’t forget about defense

Section 1: What’s This New “Agenda-Setting Power” Thing?

During Trump’s first two years in office, few tools were available to progressives to fight back against the racist, xenophobic, sexist Trump agenda. With control of both the Senate and the House, Republicans were the only ones with the power to decide what legislation came up for a vote. That gave them what we call “agenda-setting power”.

The only thing Indivisibles could really do to stop Trump and the GOP was play defense: pressure Members of Congress (MoCs) into voting against legislation that Republicans  were trying to pass, and to slow down things as much as possible. In most cases, this required holding all Democrats and flipping some Republicans — a tall order.

With control of the House, Democrats have partial agenda-setting power — and with that, they have fun new tools available to them.

Defining What Congress Works On

So, what’s agenda-setting power? On a practical level, agenda-setting power is the ability to pick the list of things that Congress will work on. Those who have a majority in the House or Senate decide what goes on that list. But agenda-setting power involves more than just items on a legislative calendar. It’s also the power to shape the national discussion, focusing attention from press and the public on one’s preferred issues.

For the past two years, Trump and Republicans have had full agenda-setting power. And this is what they’ve prioritized:

- Providing massive tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy

- Repealing the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and gutting Medicaid

- Criminalizing, caging, and deporting immigrants

- Deregulating Wall Street banks

- Limiting access to abortion rights

- Wholesale deregulation, from the environment to the internet

- Escalating wars and banning people from other countries under the guise of “national security”

Now, House Democrats choose what gets attention. With control of the House, Democrats can partially decide what Congress works on and what Americans are talking about — a monumental shift with new opportunities but important limitations.

If used effectively, the Democrat-controlled House agenda will draw a stark contrast with the Republican-controlled Senate agenda. The national discussion that follows legislative activity will lay out a choice for the American people: shared economic prosperity vs. concentration of power and wealth. Striving toward inclusion and equity vs. embracing racism, xenophobia, and misogyny. Peace and real security vs. warmongering and chaos. This contrast will set the stage for the 2020 elections — but it starts with the House in January 2019.

But partial agenda-setting power doesn’t mean Democrats can actually get legislation into law. While control of the House opens up new opportunities, we have to also understand the risks and limitations of this new state of play. Most important, of course, Democrats can’t unilaterally enact laws.   We can safely assume that the vast majority of good legislation passed in the House will die in the Republican-controlled Senate. Plus, we would still need Donald Trump to sign any bill that clears Congress in order for it to become law.

In addition, Democrats will face pressure to “play ball” with Trump — which could be dangerous. Democrats in the incoming Congress are going to be under a lot of pressure to cut deals and show that they’re reasonable and can “work” with Trump. Instead of blocking Republican priority bills or passing progressive bills out of the House, Democrats could decide to cut bad deals with Trump. Remember, in the past year alone, Democrats joined Republicans to deregulate Wall Street, to confirm a torturer to lead the CIA, and to confirm a climate-denying Islamophobe to lead the Department of State.  We simply cannot take for granted that Democrats will stick together on important votes. Historically speaking, Democrats are much less likely to vote as a unified group than Republicans are.

That means Democrats will continue to need our help stiffening their spines. We’re not going to mince words: Cutting deals could harm Americans and help Trump win re-election. Why? First, Trump is a radical right-wing extremist. Deals with him will invariably involve threats to the things we care most about. The past two years have made clear that Trump wakes up every day thinking about how he can hurt vulnerable communities like immigrant families, and how he can loot the government for his and his cronies’ benefit. Deals — for example, an infrastructure bill that enriches Trump while funding a wall — will only further endanger the things we care most about.

But the biggest reason  that cutting deals is so dangerous is this: It reinforces the idea that Trump is a normal president capable of governing well, instead of a clear danger to our democracy. Presidents generally get credit for major legislative victories, and Trump will use a win to make the case to voters that he can get things done, that he can work across the aisle, that he can govern, and that he should be re-elected. We know these things aren’t true, and we know that any legislation terrible enough for him to accept is dangerous, so why would we help him out?

That is the danger and the risk that we need to protect against, and it starts with constituent pressure to make sure that Democrats not only don’t cut bad deals with Trump, but instead go on offense to protect and advance our values.

Section 2: Legislative Offense

After two years of playing defense, we finally get to go on offense against Trump’s disastrous legislative agenda. So in this section, we dive into  the two legislative opportunities that House Democrats now have:

1. Messaging bills : What they are, and why Democrats should pass them.

2. Must-pass bills : How to leverage these opportunities to get real concessions and push our values.

Legislative Offense Strategy #1: Messaging Bills

Messaging bills demonstrate what Democrats stand for.  One of the best ways for Democrats to signal to voters and to progressives what they will prioritize should they retake Congress and the White House in 2020 is to pass ambitious, progressive legislation in the chamber where they have power now.

Most of these won’t become law immediately, since they’re not going to pass the Senate. But that’s not necessarily the point — we’re in this for the long game.

A messaging bill is one proposed by an MoC that has a minimal chance of being signed into law soon but indicates that the issue in question is a top priority for that Member of Congress — or even for the whole party. Just as important, it provides a vehicle to organize around. Members can use such a bill to gauge, gather, and demonstrate support in their caucus for a policy proposal.

The value of passing messaging bills is that they:

1. Present an alternative vision for the country. We can’t emphasize this first reason enough. Trump’s America is racist. Trump’s America is corrupt. Trump’s America is sexist. Trump’s America is inhumane. Voters need to see that there is an alternative to Trump’s America.

It’s the job of Democrats to repudiate Trump’s agenda and show them what that alternative vision is. It’s the job of the grassroots — all of us — to make sure that they do. We can’t win in 2020 if we fail to do this.

2. Get Republicans on the record on key issues. A single vote can haunt an MoC for years. (Think of Senator Hillary Clinton’s vote to go to war in Iraq.) There are issues that are incredibly popular with voters, like access to health care and relief for Dreamers. Getting Republicans to vote against the interests of their own constituents will help us get them out of office in the next election.

3. Lock MoCs into a position.  By voting in favor of a messaging bill that they know won’t become law, MoCs are significantly more likely to vote for the same bill later when there is a real chance of getting it signed into law. A good example of this is Republican efforts to repeal the ACA. After voting to repeal dozens of times (when they knew that repeal wouldn’t become law), dozens of Republicans continued to feel overwhelming pressure to vote for ACA repeal (“TrumpCare”) even though the bill was historically unpopular.

4. Settle policy debates and define the party’s agenda. If you want legislation enacted in 2021, with unified progressive control of Congress, you need messaging bills in 2019 or 2020. Once a party passes a messaging bill, it often becomes the party’s default policy proposal going forward — and part of the package of bills that party members turn into law once they’re back in power. It was no surprise that the last Republican Congress prioritized ACA repeal, tax cuts for the wealthy, and deregulation of Wall Street — it passed these same things as messaging bills under Obama.

Here’s what Your MoC can do to advance messaging bills:

Your MoC can introduce a bill that leaders won’t. Any Member can introduce a bill. If there is an issue that you care about that isn’t being addressed, your MoC has the power to introduce a bill that will address it. You can use the tactics described in Chapter 2 to pressure your MoC to do it, and to show leaders that they should be doing more.

Your MoC can also co-sponsor existing messaging bills. When individual MoCs introduce legislation, they can do it for themselves as well as with the official support of other MoCs. After they introduce the bill, new MoCs can sign on as co-sponsors at any time. Take this random bill, introduced by Conor Lamb: H.R. 7086, the Tax Fairness for Workers Act. When the legislation was officially introduced, it says right up at the top that Lamb, a Democrat from Pennsylvania, introduced it with several other MoCs (look at all those names!). This is a messaging bill. There is zero chance it gets enacted in the 115th Congress. But several Democratic MoCs signed onto the idea by co-sponsoring the legislation.

So why does co-sponsoring matter? The Speaker of the House like to be sure that any high-priority bill that goes to the House floor will pass. Having a priority bill fail on the floor is a sign of weakness. That’s why getting co-sponsors on bills is so important: The more people who sign on, the more likely that leadership queues it up for a vote, and the more likely it is to pass once it reaches the floor. Bills in the House sometimes have hundreds of co-sponsors, including Members from both parties. Lamb and his co-sponsors are signaling support for the ideas in this legislation, and they’ll probably introduce the bill again next year and try to get more co-sponsors.

Running up the number of co-sponsors on a bill also demonstrates consensus among the Democratic caucus. We want progressive bills that advance our values to have more co-sponsors than more moderate versions of the same thing. This demonstrates that the “center of gravity” in the caucus is further to the left. Often the version of a bill with the most co-sponsors is the one that will become the party’s default position.

If your Representative isn’t co-sponsoring a bill that you like, you can tell them to get off their butts and co-sponsor it - there’s nothing stopping them. You can find free information on co-sponsorship at GovTrack.us . There you can find the legislative text, relevant committees, which Members have co-sponsored and when they did so.

Legislative Offense Strategy #2: Leveraging Must-Pass Bills

Must-pass bills   are those that … must pass.   Unlike the thousands of messaging bills that get introduced every year, there are some bills that Congress has to pass every year. The most common of these are government funding bills, which are needed to prevent a government shutdown. But there will be other bills that must pass, like those extending authorization for important programs.

Even though Republicans still control the Senate, they need some Democratic votes to pass these bills, and each of the "must-pass bills" presents an opportunity for Democrats to extract important concessions in exchange for their votes, or to protect against more bad stuff from getting through.

The Tea Party used must-pass bills to get big concessions. There is an enormous amount of pressure on the majority party to get a must-pass bill through, which means its members will negotiate if necessary in order to get it done. Just as important, party leaders understand that it’s better to negotiate with members of their own party than those of the opposite party. This creates an opportunity for relatively small voting blocs to get big concessions from their leadership. That is exactly what the Tea Party has done through the Freedom Caucus.

Refresher: What is the Tea Party?

Recall from the original Indivisible Guide  that the Tea Party was a loose network of local activists and groups that organized in response to the election of President Obama. Their goal was to slow or stop as much of his agenda as possible, and end hope of progressive reform during his presidency.

Despite Democratic control of Congress and the White House, the Tea Party was able to pressure MoCs to change their votes, radically slowed federal policymaking, forced Republicans to reject compromise, and set the scene for Trump. For more information, see here .

What is the Freedom Caucus?

Inspired by the Tea Party, the Freedom Caucus is nothing more than 30-odd conservative Representatives in the House who are willing to buck their party and vote no on must-pass bills unless  they get a few things they want from leadership. And they have been quite successful at it, frequently demanding greater spending cuts or other extremely conservative concessions in exchange for the votes needed to pass a giant “must-pass bill.”

Voting blocs hold power. The most valuable currency in Congress, of course, is votes. You either have them or you don’t. Sometimes party leaders have to work hard to get the magic number they need to pass a bill or confirm a nominee. When that happens, a small number of MoCs willing to stick together can negotiate for better terms in exchange for their votes. That’s what the Freedom Caucus does.

If you have a progressive MoC, this is an opportunity. There is an important role for reliably progressive MoCs from safe districts or solid blue states to play here. They can work with their colleagues to get some crucial concessions from leadership on must-pass bills. A small group of progressives willing to vote no on must-pass bills that Democratic leadership needs to pass gives them leverage, if they’re willing to use it.

For example, a progressive voting bloc could refuse to vote for a Department of Homeland Security spending bill that contains increases in funding for ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) or CBP (Customs and Border Protection). By doing so, a progressive voting bloc could leverage its votes in order to prevent additional funding for the tearing apart of immigrant families.

Leverage works only if you’re willing to use it. Every must-pass bill involves some level of horse-trading. But the only way Democrats will be able to extract anything meaningful from Republicans — and for progressives to extract anything meaningful from Democratic leadership — is if they’re willing to vote against a must-pass bill if it contains harmful provisions or doesn’t contain provisions that progressives want. To be clear, we’re not talking about cutting deals here; we’re talking about using power to demand that progressive values are protected.

We can expect certain must-pass bills in advance, but not all. It’s impossible to predict with certainty what Congress will work on, or when. Legislative priorities can shift quickly because of political circumstances or other national imperatives. But there are a few must-pass bills that come up every year, or that are due next year. In the next Congress, they are:

- Government spending bill(s): Every year, Congress is required to pass a new spending bill by the end of the fiscal year, on September 30. It rarely does, and instead often passes short-term spending bills known as “continuing resolutions.” Each of these spending bills is a must-pass bill because it is needed to avoid a government shutdown. (These will come up around September 30 and any time a CR is expiring.)

- The National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA: This is the annual military funding bill that Congress normally passes through the House in the spring and in the Senate in late summer or fall. (The bulk of the work on this bill usually happens over the summer.) Because this is a large bill that both parties feel lots of pressure to pass, it is a vehicle for lots of amendments and extra debate.

- Debt Ceiling: The debt ceiling is a limit set by Congress on the amount of debt that the U.S. Treasury can issue in order to cover costs already racked up. Congress has to do this in order to avoid defaulting on our obligations and throwing the global economy into chaos. Now, we’re certainly not advocating for holding the debt ceiling hostage. The key thing to remember is that the process will require negotiations between Republicans and Democrats and making sure the progressives are ready to defend against bad deals will be important.

Section 3: Offense Through Oversight and Investigations

For two years, the Republican-controlled House, Senate, and White House have covered for each other rather than holding each other in check. With Democratic control of the House, it’s a whole new ballgame.

In this section, we’ll cover how Democrats can and should use this new power:

1. What oversight is, and how we can use it

2. The power of subpoenas

3. What about impeachment?

Oversight: What Is It, Who Does It, and How Can We Use It?

We know that the Trump administration is corrupt. We know that it continues to abuse its power across the government. We just don’t know to what extent. One of the best ways to find out — and to hold officials accountable — is through congressional oversight.

All Democrats have the power to hold Trump accountable in some way, whether it’s through subpoenaing witnesses or information, holding hearings, or conducting investigations.   Every MoC sits on at least a couple of congressional committees. Those assignments will determine the specific subject matter  over which they have oversight authority. As a result, all Democrats can question, subpoena, and investigate the Trump administration in some way using their new power in the majority. This table lays out which committees have oversight authority over which parts of the government:

Executive Branch Department

Relevant House Committee(s)

Relevant Senate Committee(s)

Agriculture

Agriculture

Agriculture

Commerce

Energy and Commerce

Commerce, Transportation, and Science

Defense

Armed Services

Armed Services

Education

Education and Workforce

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Energy

Energy and Commerce

Energy and Natural Resources

Health and Human Services (HHS)

Ways and Means
Energy and Commerce

Finance

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

Homeland Security

Homeland Security

Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs

Housing and Urban Development (HUD)

Financial Services

Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs

Interior

Natural Resources

Energy and Natural Resources

Justice

Judiciary

Judiciary

Labor

Education and Workforce

Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions

State

Foreign Affairs

Foreign Relations

Transportation

Transportation and Infrastructure

Commerce, Transportation, and Science

Treasury

Ways and Means

Finance

Veterans Affairs

Veterans Affairs

Veterans Affairs

Here’s how to use the table:  Let's say your MoC is on the Financial Services Committee. As you can see, that committee oversees the Department of Housing and Urban Development. So if you were concerned about the $31,000 that Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Ben Carson spent on a dining set for his office in 2017 , you can tell your MoC that she should demand that her committee investigate this misuse of public funds. Just ask her: “Will you commit to opening an investigation into Ben Carson’s misuse of public funds to purchase a $31,000 dining set?”

What if I have a Republican MoC?

Republican MoCs have just as much of an obligation to conduct responsible oversight of the administration as Democrats do — but don’t expect them to do it. If your Republican MoC is shielding Trump from investigation instead of actively participating, hold them accountable the same way you would as if they had just taken bad vote. On the flip side, Republicans MoCs who support investigations deserve your praise and positive reinforcement.

Democrats can use oversight hearings and subpoenas to shine a light. House Committees (led by the committee chair) can call oversight hearings whenever they want. That’s the benefit of being the majority and having agenda-setting power — hearings are part of the agenda. Committees can also force witnesses (including administration officials) to appear at these hearings and answer questions, because committees have subpoena power.

Democrats can and should ask tough questions in committee hearings. These hearings with witnesses are another opportunity for your MoC — Members take turns asking questions —  to press the administration on conflicts of interest, wasteful spending, or any other questionable activity. Good MoCs avoid pontificating and instead ask direct, pointed question of the witnesses, forcing them to fill the given time and putting them on the record responding. (We discuss in Chapter 2 how to ask your MoC to do this.)

Bring on a formal congressional investigation. Formal congressional investigations are a form of oversight that happens over a longer period of time. Committees can conduct an investigation into any matter that falls within their jurisdiction, assuming they get the investigation authorized by a vote in the full House. There is even a specific panel, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform (HOGR) whose entire job is to conduct oversight. Remember the investigation into the IRS’s allegedly aiming extra scrutiny at conservative tax-exempt organizations? That was HOGR. The original Benghazi investigation in the House? Started with HOGR. Democratic MoCs who sit on HOGR have an even more important role to play in oversight.

Republicans weaponized their investigatory authority to look into frivolous or exaggerated scandals for their own political objectives. In contrast, Democrats have a wealth of real scandals that need to be investigated — and they must use their investigatory authority in a responsible way to expose the worst of the Trump administration. Here are just a few examples of investigations that Democrats should pursue using this authority (there are many):

- The response to and aftermath of Hurricane Maria in Puerto Rico

- Personal conflicts of interest between Cabinet secretaries and the industries their departments allegedly oversee

- Immigration agencies and the family separation policy

- Deliberate sabotage of the Affordable Care Act by the Trump administration

In addition, a department dealing with a congressional investigation has to devote enormous resources to it — which means it has fewer resources to cause harm to our communities, schools, and environment. That’s a good thing. More investigations = less time for Trump’s Cabinet to come up with new ways to implement and expand his agenda.

Trump’s Tax Returns and the Unique Authority of the House Ways and Means Committee

The urgency in seeing Trump’s tax returns, and those of his more than 500 business entities, dates back to his days as a candidate for office, when he broke decades of precedent by not releasing them. Fortunately, since it is clear he won’t release them on a voluntary basis, 26 U.S. Code § 6103(f) empowers the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee with the unique authority to obtain tax returns upon request — authority used by the House majority as recently as 2014.

Public disclosure of the president’s tax returns clearly serves the public interest. First, the American people could see more clearly just how much Trump is personally benefiting from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the tax law that he and his Republican allies in Congress rushed to a vote on a partisan basis in 2017. We could also learn the extent to which Trump maintains foreign bank accounts or has paid taxes to foreign governments — helping us understand whether his personal finances present conflicts of interest or otherwise affect his decision-making as president.

Eliminating corruption and conflicts of interest among our highest elected officials, and restoring the faith of the American people in our government, demand nothing less than Democrats using their oversight authority on Day One to obtain Trump’s tax returns.

What About Impeachment?

Impeachment is a political process. Indivisible supports impeachment proceedings because there’s copious evidence that Trump has obstructed justice (and there is likely more evidence of other crimes and corruption that will emerge after real investigations are completed). But we also recognize that impeachment is not a matter of whether someone objectively deserves to be impeached; it’s a matter of whether the votes are there.  To successfully impeach and remove Donald Trump from office, there will have to be a majority of votes in the House to impeach, and then two-thirds of the votes in the Senate to convict. That means at least 67 Senators, Republican and Democrat, would have to vote yes on conviction. In other words: for this to work, the same folks who spent two years empowering Trump and voting to take away your health-care coverage will have to get on board.

Another way to say this is that the way we ultimately get Trump out of office is by making him so toxic that a significant number of Republicans realize that they need to abandon him to save themselves. That means doing some legwork. To get there, we will need:

- Overwhelming evidence that Trump committed an impeachable offense (even more than we currently have).

- Extraordinarily low Trump favorability ratings (lower than we’ve seen thus far in his presidency), which will force Republicans to split from him to protect themselves.

The best way to build that evidence base and erode Trump’s favorability ratings is through a broader congressional strategy  — relentless investigations and ensuring that his policies are recognized as toxic and are regularly defeated in Congress. That’s why using our constituent power to defeat his legislative agenda and expose his corruption through investigations is so important. Pursuing this strategy is about laying that groundwork.

Investigations are the first step forward. With control of the House, Democrats should use their investigatory power to begin investigations into whether Donald Trump has committed crimes that would justify his impeachment. This is a first and necessary step. There is no shortage of avenues: obstruction of justice in his firing of James Comey, his violation of the Constitution’s Emoluments Clause, collusion with Russia to interfere with the 2016 election. But remember: Impeachment is going to take time if it’s going to be successful.

Section 4: Don’t Forget About Defense

We’ve just discussed the new powers that House Democrats won with their majority. But the Republican Senate will keep trying to partner with Trump to enact his agenda and confirm his extremist judges and other nominees. That means there’s still some defense to do.

In this section, we’ll cover:

1. Why we need to stay on defense even though Democrats just won control of the House

2. How Senators can continue to play defense in the Senate

Why do we need to stay on defense?

Even now that Democrats have taken back the House, the Republicans still control the Senate — and Mitch McConnell is going to work with Trump to raid as much of the coffers as he can before the 2020 election.

Senate Republicans will stop at nothing   to advance Trump’s agenda.  Despite the losses they suffered in the House, Republicans remain firmly behind Trump. They want to continue to cut taxes for the wealthiest Americans and corporations, slash Medicaid and end protections for people with pre-existing conditions, and protect Trump and his crony Cabinet from any meaningful oversight.

No one from the Senate Republican caucus is going to save us, so Democrats must refuse to “go along to get along” when going along means cutting deals that hurt immigrant families, people with pre-existing conditions, and other marginalized communities.

How can Senators defend against Trumpism?

Democratic Senators have ways to delay progress on Trump’s agenda. In the Senate, powerful mechanisms are available to the minority party to slow down harmful legislation and nominations.   That means even though Democrats remain in the minority, there’s a lot they can do. They used some of these during the fights over the TrumpCare and tax scam bills in 2017. We’ll review them again briefly here, so you know how to best pressure your senator:

- Withholding consent: Almost anything in the Senate, from its rules to the parameters of a debate, can be waived using “unanimous consent” (UC) agreements. As the name denotes, “unanimous consent” works only if no one objects, so a senator who wants to slow things down need only show up when a UC request is offered and say, “I object!” This is a common Tea Party-inspired tactic: in February 2018, Senator Rand Paul single-handedly held up a spending bill for more than six hours and forced a brief government shutdown.   You can read more about withholding consent here.

- Filibustering: The Senate minority party’s most powerful tool is the filibuster. The majority party must get 60 votes to end debate (“invoke cloture”) and move forward on most pieces of legislation. By refusing to end debate voluntarily, a single senator can force the majority party to get 60 votes in order to move forward. Some notable cases where the filibuster isn’t as useful: Presidential nominations require only 51 votes for confirmation, and legislation being passed under a special budget process called “reconciliation” also requires only 51. You can read more about filibustering in our explainer here.

- Denying quorum: The Constitution states that “a majority of each [chamber of Congress] shall constitute a Quorum to do Business.” Most of the time, there aren’t enough Senators for a quorum, but the Senate continues with its business because no one calls it into question. Any senator could rise at any time and challenge this assumption — and if there aren’t 51 Senators present, legislative business cannot resume until enough Senators return, or the Senate reaches a unanimous consent agreement to move along. In this way, a group of Senators could slow things down by just not showing up on the Senate floor. (This tactic also sometimes works in committee; in early 2017, Democrats on the Finance Committee delayed the confirmation votes for Steve Mnuchin and Tom Price  by refusing to show up.)

What about state policy advocacy?

There’s real opportunity (and responsibility) to get progressive policy wins on the state level. Since the 2016 election, states and localities have been at the forefront of resisting the Trump agenda. Indivisibles across the country are engaging in these battles, and Indivisible National will continue to support them. For more information, and for tactics on how to be most effective working at the state level, read our new guide on state-level advocacy!

Chapter 2: Implementing the New Strategy Locally

Chapter 1 describes how the new Congress, with a new Democratic House majority, can demand a new strategy. This chapter explains how your Indivisible group can effectively put this strategy into effect.

In this chapter, we’ll cover:

1. How to structure an ask for YOUR MoCs using this guide

2. How to organize locally to implement this strategy

3. Tactics that actually make your MoCs listen

4. Ways that Indivisible National can support your work

Section 1: Make Good “Asks” to Make Your MoC Act

When meeting with constituents, just about all MoCs and their staffers thrive on strategic ambiguity. They want constituents to feel heard and represented, but they don’t want to have to do too much work. This is true even for friendly Democratic MoCs. They don’t want to be tied down — they want to maintain flexibility to act or not act as they see fit.

Well, that’s not our goal as Indivisibles — we want them to use their power to actively fight for us. Even our friendly Democratic MoCs need a nudge from time to time. To make sure they listen and follow through, it is extremely  important to craft effective “asks” for your MoCs. You want them do something, so you ask.

The 3 S’s of a good “ask.” Any good ask for a MoC meets at least these three criteria, which, conveniently, all begin with the letter S. Good asks are “Triple S Asks” — specific, strategic, and seeable:

1. It’s specific : Asks are not about philosophizing, they’re about prompting specific action. So your ask should be time-limited and precise. For instance, “Vote no on x bill,” or “Ask x witness about y issue at the hearing on z date.”

2. It’s strategic . The reason you’re asking at all is because you want achieve something. If your MoC follows through on your ask, what will be accomplished? For instance, “Co-sponsor x bill” builds support for a policy you prefer, while “Make a speech about x issue” might not accomplish anything.

3. It’s seeable . Look, we’ll say it, MoCs are really crafty. They’re politicians (yes, the Democrats, too)! Trust but always verify. If the action you’re asking for cannot be observed and verified, you will not be able hold your MoCs accountable for following through. You can check to see how they voted, you can watch the video of a hearing, you can ask to see the letter they sent.

The more you know about your MoCs, the more effective you can be at getting them to do what you want!

We know that pushing your Members of Congress can be a little intimidating, so it helps to go in with as much information as possible about their positions. Once you’ve looked up who your Representative and two Senators are , here are a few more basics to help you learn more:

- How to check what committees your MoCs are on:

1. You can find a directory of Senate committee assignments here .

2. You can find a directory of House committee assignments here .

- How to check if your MoC has co-sponsored a bill you support: You can find just about everything you want to know on Congress.gov.

1. Using the search bar at the top, you can search by your MoC or by the bill name or number.

2. Once you’ve found the bill you’re interested in, click the tab labeled “Co-sponsors” and search to see if your MoC is a current co-sponsor. (See below.)

- How to check how your MoC voted on a bill:

1. Find the bill (or vote) you’re interested using Congress.gov , just as you did before.

2. This time, click on the tab labeled “Actions.” From here you’ll see whether the bill has received a vote. If it has, there will be a link to the recorded vote, called “Roll no. ###”.

3. Click on the “Roll no.” link and search to see whether your MoC voted for or against the bill.

- How to check what the House is working on: The Majority Leader in the House (not to be confused with the much more powerful Majority Leader in the Senate) is responsible for notifying the caucus and the public about what will get floor time in the House. You can find out what the House will be voting on by visiting the Majority Leader’s website: https://www.majorityleader.gov/schedule/ .

Plans on Capitol Hill can change quickly, but there are a couple of good ways to keep track of what’s happening. The Senate Democrats’ “Floor Watch” Twitter account  does a good job of keeping track of what’s happening in the Senate. The House Democrats’ “Cloakroom” Twitter account  does the same for the House. And sign up for our email list through our website  — every week, we send out updates on what we expect to happen on the Hill and how you can be most impactful in your advocacy.

A veritable smorgasbord of good asks for your MoCs.

Your MoCs — particularly House Democrats, since they’re in the majority— have a range of tools at their disposal that you can and should ask them to use in order to advance bold progressive policy, continue to play defense, and hold the Trump administration accountable. Some tools are more effective than others, depending on the objective. And some tools are more appropriate for only some Members, based on their committee assignments. Here is an overview of the tools your Democratic House Member has in the majority, and when they are most effectively deployed by which Members.

In this section, we cover 8 types of asks you should consider:

1. Use their vote.

2. Co-sponsor legislation

3. Introduce legislation

4. Use oversight authority, including investigation and subpoenas

5. Write letters to the administration demanding answers

6. Leverage procedural tools to slow the Republican agenda

7. Join a caucus

8. Publicly urge leadership to give greater attention to an issue

1. Use their vote. It may sound obvious, but it’s worth stating explicitly: Often the most effective tool your MoC has is the vote. With control of the House, your Democratic House Members can and should use their votes to support progressive legislation and oppose legislation that falls short. The Democratic leadership will expect unequivocal support from rank-and-file Members on whatever they put forward — but your Democratic Members can and should withhold their support of legislation that sells out our values in the name of striking deals with Trump.

What should I ask my MoC?   To state the obvious, it matters how every  MoC votes. But it will be crucial for Democrats to stick together as a caucus to resist Republican-controlled Senate-initiated deals with Trump. And it will be most crucial if your Representative is a progressive Democrat for those MoCs to vote together as a bloc to continually push the Speaker toward more progressive policies.

2. Co-sponsor legislation. There are a lot of bills introduced during a given Congress, and most will never get a vote on the House or Senate floor. One way MoCs can move their bills to the forefront of leadership’s attention is to rack up the number of its co-sponsors. Co-sponsoring legislation is a way that MoCs signal their strong support for a bill, and that the support is locked in. Your MoCs should co-sponsor only the progressive bills they want to see move forward for a vote in committee and on the floor.

What should I ask my MoC? This approach to co-sponsorship is important for all Members, so you can ask them to co-sponsor the right bills no matter what their committee assignments are.

3. Introduce their own legislation. Any MoC can do this. And before legislation can go anywhere, it has to be introduced. But before that, your MoC should do the legwork to hear from stakeholders and constituents (that is, you!) before they introduce a bill.

What should I ask my MoC? You can ask your MoC to introduce legislation that advances your progressive policy priorities. They might tell you that a bill has already been introduced by someone else, or is in the works to be introduced. If that’s the case, ask them to co-sponsor it. But if there’s no other bill, ask them to introduce the legislation and actively recruit co-sponsors.

4. Use oversight authority, including investigation and subpoenas. All Members of Congress — including yours, whether Republican or Democrat — have an obligation to responsibly use their oversight authority to hold the Trump administration accountable for its rampant corruption, abuse of federal resources, and conflicts of interest.

What should I ask my MoC?   If your MoC is a Democrat in the House or a Republican in the Senate who chairs a committee and/or an oversight subcommittee, you should ask that MoC  to state publicly and specifically which investigations they plan to launch and when.

What to do before you do this:

1. Look up your MoC’s committee assignments, using the directions above.

2. Look up the jurisdiction of those committees, using the chart in Chapter One.

3. Pick one of the Executive Branch departments under your MoC’s jurisdiction and do a quick Google search for the Cabinet secretary and the word “investigation” (example: “Betsy DeVos investigation”). Seriously: This works for more than half the Cabinet.

4. Choose a legitimate news source, read up on the ethical issues surrounding the Cabinet secretary, and make a direct ask of your MoC to use oversight authority to investigate.

5. Write letters to the administration demanding answers. MoCs regularly send letters of inquiry to the Executive Branch to demand answers about questionable activities or activities that are hurting their constituents. These letters are easily ignored when they come from the party in the minority — but now that Democrats have control of the House, the administration will pay more attention, because they can more easily be escalated from a letter to a question at a public hearing.

What should I ask my MoC? You can ask your MoC to write directly to a Cabinet secretary or agency head to raise your concerns. The MoC should recruit colleagues to sign on as well, because the more Members on a letter, the likelier it is to get a response. If you raise an issue with your MoC and the response is, “Sorry, nothing Congress can do about that” — that’s not entirely true. Members can at least try this.

6. Leverage procedural tools to slow the Republican agenda.  Even though Democrats have control of the House, Republicans still control the agenda in the Senate, and the Trump administration still has the authority to issue new administrative rules. But that doesn’t mean we are powerless to stop them. Procedural tools can significant slow the agenda down.

What should I ask my MoC? You should ask Senate Democrats to continue using the filibuster to block Republican legislation that advances the Trump agenda, and to withhold consent or deny quorum when it makes strategic sense.

7. Join a caucus. Caucuses are groups that MoCs join on the basis of either their values or issues that are important to them. It is intended to signal their priorities or support for an issue. Some caucuses have been around for decades, have paid staff, and are able to meaningfully advance their agendas. Other caucuses are less serious and less effective.

What should I ask my MoC? The caucuses your MoCs join — and the caucuses they don’t join — signal what kind of Members they’ll be. We want Democrats joining caucuses that prioritize our progressive values, like the Congressional Progressive Caucus or the Women’s Leaders Caucus. Of course, they should also join the Congressional Black Caucus, the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and the LGBT Caucus if appropriate. But your Members should not  join caucuses that work to thwart our progressive agenda. Those caucuses include the “New Dems” and the “Problem Solvers.” You can also ask your MoC to join an issue-based caucus. There are dozens of them, but, for the most part, they’re not very effective.

8. Publicly urge leadership to give greater attention to an issue. Sometimes leaders need a little nudge — or tremendous pressure — from within the caucus to prioritize an issue. For example, it’s likely that leadership will want to steer clear of abolishing ICE. But with sustained, meaningful pressure from within the caucus, that could change.

What should I ask my MoC? Giving floor speeches, issuing statements, giving a platform to affected communities, and publicly calling out leadership for not prioritizing an issue are all ways that MoCs can hold their own leadership accountable.

Section 2: Organizing Locally Using Tactics That Work

Now that you have a new strategy for a new Congress, and you know what to ask your MoCs to do, let’s talk about the most effective ways to organize locally to make Congress listen.

In this section, we’ll cover:

1. A refresher on tactics that actually work

2. Strategies for Indivisible groups to organize locally

3. How we at Indivisible National can help

Refresher: Tactics That Actually Work

Fact: The Affordable Care Act would be fully repealed today if not for the nationwide grassroots mobilizations of 2017. But it wasn’t just constituent anger that saved the ACA; on the contrary, it was determined, local organizing focused on Members of Congress, using tactics that work. We didn’t invent these strategies and tactics — we took them directly from the Tea Party, which used them to bring President Obama’s agenda to a halt. ( See our original Guide to learn more. )

Case Study: Resisting TrumpCare in Maine

Local Indivisible groups in Maine were instrumental in protecting the  Affordable Care Act.  Working closely with the Indivisible organizing team and other progressives in Maine, local Indivisible groups used the above lessons to pressure Senator Collins into voting against TrumpCare. Groups across the state worked together to make sure each of her six offices heard directly from constituents demanding that she vote to protect the ACA. One group even drove four hours to ensure that her northernmost office was covered.

An MoC may be able to ignore constituents if there are just one or two people making phone calls, but by working together the groups demonstrated that every corner of the state was committed to defeating TrumpCare (and to finding a new Senator if their current one wouldn’t represent their interests).

5 Rules for Planning a Tactic:

1. What your MoC cares about: re-election. When it comes to influencing Members of Congress, the one guiding principle to keep in mind is: it’s all about re-election. That is always on their minds. After all, you just elected them to office, so they know how important you are.

This doesn’t mean there aren’t principled MoCs who really believe in the work they’re doing and actually want to make a difference for their constituents. But even they have to be elected and re-elected in order to accomplish those things.

To get re-elected, MoCs are obsessed with crafting their local image as good, diligent, and attentive MoCs. Your tactics should take advantage of that overriding desire. Anything tactic that threatens that local image will be taken very  seriously by an MoC.

2. The more effort you put into your tactic, the better.  More effort shows that you care — and caring means that you’re more likely to do other things, like either help them get re-elected or work to support their opponent. When you show up, in person, with a group, it signals that there is real discontent among constituents. This disrupts that MoC’s decision-making process and requires them to make effort to do damage control. On the flip side, advocacy tactics that don’t take much effort, don’t come from an MoC’s constituents, and don’t generate attention aren’t impactful.

3. Stay local. You don’t need to travel to Washington to pressure your MoC. Members will prioritize what their constituents back at home — those who will be voting for or against them — care about. That means a local action covered by local news — for example, at a district office or a town hall — will have more of an impact than attending a march or rally in D.C.

4. In-person group actions are more effective. The closer you can get to an MoC, the more effective that tactic will be. A visit to an MoC’s district office is more effective than a call; a call is more effective than a letter; a letter is more effective than a tweet or a Facebook post; and a petition is pointless (staffers usually can’t even enter it into their system for tracking calls, so they’ll just toss it). And you should find strength in numbers. It’s much harder for MoCs and their staff Members to dismiss large groups showing up and yelling at them than a single person. That’s why it’s important to coordinate group actions.

5. Pictures or it didn’t happen. Actions that get covered by local media are the best of all.  All MoCs want to generate positive local press coverage and avoid negative attention that suggests they are facing backlash, which will make it harder for them to get re-elected. They can ignore you, or even a group of you, but they can’t ignore local coverage that makes them look bad. Hold larger events or events with creative visuals. Invite reporters. And always be sure to record everything and share it all on social media.

More About Local Media Coverage: Why It’s Essential and How to Get It

MoCs care enormously about maintaining a good image in their hometown media. They want to appear in-touch, well-liked, and competent. They want to get local coverage of their work on certain policy issues whenever possible — and to talk about issues where their position is unpopular as little as they can. Splashy cable TV shows are nice, but local media really are where MoCs’ careers live and die, and where their legacy matters most. Local media coverage forces your MoCs and their staff to spend time reckoning with your issues and your stories.

An added bonus: Media coverage helps to expand our movement by making others in your community aware of your Indivisible group’s work. It helps to recruit new Members!

Where To Start: Building a Media List

Working with local media may seem confusing if you’ve never done it before. The best place to start is to learn who’s who.

Every Member of Congress has a short list of local reporters who cover that MoC regularly. It’s part of the job for these reporters to keep tabs on the votes they take and to find interesting ways to show their impact on real people in their district. As a local Indivisible group, you’re going to be able to make that job easier.

Start by Googling around and reading recent local newspaper and radio stories on your MoC. You’ll find a lot of the same reporters’ names come up over and over again. Gathering a list of those names, looking for their email addresses as you go: That’s the beginning of your media list.

The next time you plan an event or engage in another one of the tactics, introduce yourself to these folks and send them the information. Congratulations: Your Indivisible group’s media outreach program is now underway!

Learn more about the Indivisible Project’s media training resources , including:

- How to Give a Media Interview

- How To Get Press To Cover Your Event

- Tips From Journalists: How to Build Great Connections With Media

With those rules in mind, here are 7 tactics to make your MoCs listen:

1. District office visits. Members of Congress have offices back home in their districts for a reason — to serve the constituents they represent. A district office is a good place for your group to show up, meet with staff or the MoC, and draw attention to your concerns.   Read more here  from the original Indivisible Guide about how to have impactful district office events.

2. Coordinated phone calls. While showing up in person is always the best tactic, flooding an MoC’s phone lines can also have an impact. Check our online resources (we update these nearly daily!) for call scripts that your group can use, and read more here , from the original Indivisible Guide, on how to maximize your impact through phone calls.

3. Earned media events.   Your MoC’s local office is also a great location for protests with creative visuals. These are easy and appealing for reporters to cover, and they can result in news stories that pack a punch. Indivisible groups earned great coverage by holding “ die-ins ” to protest their MoCs’ support for TrumpCare, and “ retirement parties ” to signal that voting for Trump’s tax bill would end their MoCs’ political careers. Tailor your tactics to your group’s talents and interests. These types of creative, fun events are great at getting media coverage. Here’s more on how to get press coverage of your events .

4. Town halls and public events. Town halls and public events are ideal for showing up in a group and making your voices heard. Footage of angry constituents demanding answers in person is one of the most effective ways to force attention on MoCs and hold them accountable. Demanding their attention and disrupting their preferred narrative is an effective way to draw attention to your concerns and influence their decision-making in the public eye. Read more here  about showing up at public events, and more here  about maximizing impact at a town hall.

5. Statewide (or districtwide) public letters. Another way to increase the pressure is to coordinate with other Indivisible groups and jointly write a letter to your MoC, listing the co-signing groups. After submitting the letter to your MoC’s office, email it to your local media list. Letters like this are a great way to demonstrate the depth of local support for your cause. It’s something reporters can easily quote and cite in their next story about your issue. You can also try submitting your letter to the Letters to the Editor section of your local papers, inquiring whether they might run it in the letters or op-ed sections.

6. Letters to the editor.  Letters to the editor in your local newspaper that mention your MoC by name are a great way to get their attention. MoCs and their staff members regularly review press clips that mention that MoC, including letters to the editor, meaning that your advocacy will get noticed and discussed in the office. Read here for more on how to advocate using LTEs.

7. Op-eds. The op-ed sections of local newspapers are some of the most valuable pieces of real estate in media. MoCs regularly use local op-ed pages to write their own narratives and shape public opinion showcasing their leadership. By writing your own op-eds, you can be a part of shaping that narrative. Whether you support or oppose your MoCs, getting into the op-ed space is a great way to hold them accountable. Read more here on writing op-eds that make a difference.

Why contacting MoCs who don’t represent you is a bad idea. Do not contact MoCs who are not your MoC. There are NO exceptions to this rule — even if those MoCs are in leadership, even if they’re on a relevant committee, and even if they’re making a decision that affects us all. Members of Congress simply do not care about calls and pressure from non-constituents, and calling them anyway will be counterproductive. If you jam up the phone lines with your out-of-state calls, you’re diluting the power of actual constituents. We know it’s tempting, but it’s important to avoid doing this. Read more here  about why you should never call MoCs who aren’t yours.

Tactics for Building a Strong, Sustainable Indivisible Group

We know that the tactics we’ve covered are best carried out as part of a local, powerful group. Here are some ways for you to build and strengthen your Indivisible group to carry out these strategies.

By now you should be part of a local Indivisible group. If you haven’t joined up, that’s Step One! There are local Indivisible groups in every congressional district, so chances are there is an Indivisible group near you. Find it here . If there isn’t, you can start one! Read more here  about how to organize an Indivisible group in your community. And be sure to register your group  to become a part of the nationwide Indivisible network.

Expand and strengthen your group. Make it a top priority to recruit new members (learn more in our How to Make New Friends!  explainer) and develop group leadership (learn more in our Building a Great Leadership Team  explainer). Developing your group will take work, but it will pay off in the long run.

Connect with other Indivisible groups. As a starting point, your group can combine energy and resources with nearby Indivisible groups. This can help your group reduce redundancy, expand your reach, and build your power. Many Indivisible groups have already coordinated to build statewide networks that share information and work together ( Indivisible Illinois  and Indivisible CA: StateStrong  are two examples). Start by reaching out to the   Indivisible Organizing team . We can let you know if there are already Indivisible groups coordinating with one another in your community and put you in touch with other active local groups. You also find other registered Indivisible groups near you here .

Build partnerships with directly affected communities. Trump’s agenda explicitly targets immigrants, Muslims, people of color, LGBTQ people, the poor and working class, women, and other vulnerable communities. It is critical that your resistance reflect and center the voices of those who are most directly threatened by the Trump agenda.  This is not only because the Trump agenda targets particular communities, but also because Trump himself is a product of a broader racist and bigoted GOP agenda that services the white and wealthy. You can read more about forming local partnerships  here, and more on building inclusion here .

Lean on Indivisible National

Work with your National Indivisible organizer! Did you know that there is a full-time organizer on Indivisible National’s staff dedicated to providing you with resources and support in your activism for your state? Your organizer is a true partner in this fight. They can connect you with other Indivisible groups, provide strategic guidance, connect with an expert from our policy team or other National resources, and help you build your local movement. Connect with your Organizer here  and take advantage of what they have to offer you and your Indivisible group!

Use our map. You know about our map to find a local group . But our map of events happening around the country  is just as important. We’ve worked hard to make our group and events map intuitive and ready for Indivisible groups to use in working to build attendance for events and strengthen their numbers.

Help us recruit for your events to expand your group. Any event on our map by Wednesday at 11:59 pm ET will be sent to folks in the event’s area in the “Find an Indivisible event near you” section of that week’s newsletter. This newsletter goes out to our entire national list (that’s a lot of people!) — it’s a great way to reach possible new group members.

Sign up to get the latest news and updates from Indivisible. Indivisible National regularly shares updates on legislation, the most impactful calls to action based on where you live and who your Members of Congress are, resources to demystify the way Congress and elections work, toolkits for planning events and getting press and social coverage, and other news and opportunities for you and your Indivisible group. Sign up here.

Follow us on social and tag us to amplify your work. Just like our emails, our social feeds are a great way to stay in the know on breaking news, analysis from our in-house policy wonks and campaign strategists, and the latest movement calls to action. It’s also a good way to stay up to date on what’s happening with other Indivisible groups around the country. Follow us on Twitter @IndivisibleTeam , on Facebook , and on Instagram . And don’t forget, we love to feature the work you’re doing on your home turf, so tag us on Twitter in your photos and videos so we can amplify you!

Our website is a critical resource for you. Nearly every day, our team at Indivisible National is researching, writing, and publishing resources on indivisible.org  to make it easier for you and your group to take action to hold your MoCs accountable (and win elections!). Check back regularly for the latest in resources , trainings , the IndivisiBlog , and the best of Indivisible news  around the country (and a lot more).

Join our nationally coordinated network. Our strategy remains the same: local groups taking local actions that actually make Congress listen.   To support this strategy, we are leveraging our national resources to train and support local groups on the ground. This means building a national network of Indivisible groups to coordinate strategies and actions, and building local leadership and organizers on the ground — and we want you and your group to be a part of our network.

Conclusion

Indivisible was founded on the radical idea that in a representative democracy, your representatives ought to represent you. Our only goal, as a group of progressive former congressional staffers, wonks, and advocates, is to empower the thousands of local Indivisible groups to demand that representation.

We wrote this guide to demystify the incoming Congress, because we’ve seen this kind of effort work before. As dark as these past two years have been, Indivisibles have done so much to hold our values in the light. Now, on the verge of a new Congress, we feel hopeful — hopeful that Indivisibles everywhere feel and appreciate the power they’ve discovered, developed, and directed to start reshaping American democracy.

We don’t have all the answers. This guide is a guide, not a bible. We can’t predict all the things that will happen in the waning years of the Trump era. But we also know the next two years are pivotal for our nation’s future.

If you made it all the way to the end of this guide, it’s because you care about our country and our future. You’re well at home in the Indivisible movement, and we’re proud to be in this fight together.

Good luck — we will win.