How to Get Elected Officials to Support Your Science

If you are an AGU scientist facing a budget cut or wanting to see your research field expanded, we have some advice for you. Most outreach efforts focus on incumbent officeholders and the best ways to communicate with them. We both have run for office and would like to broaden the scientific outreach effort to include the campaign trail as well.

The advice in this article pertains to effectively communicating with current and future officeholders with a focus on support for uncrewed space research. However, its tenets can easily be adapted for the rest of the AGU community.

Who’s Running?

Focusing on candidates during election season is effective, because this is the moment they are working to establish priorities among their most active supporters.

Focusing on candidates during election season is effective, because this is the moment they are working to establish priorities among their most active supporters. The uncertainty during this time makes topics and issues brought up by vocal constituents especially significant.

When we, the authors, ran for local, nonpartisan office, discussions with our constituents helped inform and guide approaches to the most important issues we faced.

Such candidate meetings are excellent opportufnities to champion your work—to share with both the candidate and the candidate’s supporters what you do and why it should matter to them. In addition, candidates are pleased to support issues that rarely are divisive; such win-win topics are often found in science and can help the candidate facilitate a meeting.

To locate an ongoing campaign, you can search national, regional, and local news; Ballotpedia is an excellent resource. Look up the senators and representatives who represent you in the U.S. Congress in Washington. Check your state’s website to find your representatives in your state legislature. Your local city hall or regional or county websites have detailed information on local officeholders (like mayors or city council members) and their terms. Events that local officeholders attend frequently attract state and federal candidates.

In addition to your own members of Congress, it is particularly important for scientists to reach out to members of the House Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies. This standing subcommittee is part of the powerful Committee on Appropriations and helps determine funding for science-related projects and their personnel, operations, equipment, and activities. As a scientist, you currently fall within the bailiwick of the following legislators:

You should also check to see whether your senator might be serving on the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, currently chaired by Sen. Maria Cantwell (Wash.) with Sen. Ted Cruz (Texas) as its ranking member. Who sits on these committees changes regularly, so this list will be dated after the November election; however, approaching the new people in the same manner is still relevant.

Where Are the Candidates?

When you know who is running for office, there are many ways to discover outreach events that candidates are attending.

One easy way is to browse the websites of your county’s political parties. Republicans, Democrats, and an array of third parties have calendars featuring lists of different organizations that are hosting candidates at events. These organizations may include partisan groups like the Yellow Rose of Texas Republican Women, as well as nonpartisan associations such as the League of Women Voters.

Your local chamber of commerce may also sponsor events, which provide an opportunity to meet your local congressional representative. These meetings may be attended by a congressional aide or lobbyist, who are often important points of contact between a candidate and voters.

Finally, you may want to straightforwardly query the campaign itself. Candidates will usually have scheduled events posted on their campaign websites. If not, it’s easy enough to call or email to ask when they’ll be in your area for a town hall or fundraiser.

Tea Party Democrats and Other Special Interests

It is important to note that attending these events will immerse you into a motivated community that initially may feel unfamiliar. Navigating parties and priorities is not as straightforward as it might seem. One of our favorite campaigners was an elderly defense attorney who called himself a “Tea Party Democrat” while attending events.

The first thing to keep in mind when engaging with people on the campaign trail is that you will never win everybody over, and roughly a third of them will push back on anything you say. That’s perfectly normal.

if you’re a space scientist—and even if you’re not—you should be prepared for questions about extraterrestrial beings.

Another thing to keep in mind is that people will ask unusual questions. For example, if you’re a space scientist—and even if you’re not—you should be prepared for questions about extraterrestrial beings. Do not judge the people who broach this topic. You are a scientist and an authority they can talk to. Explain your experience and be honest about the odd stuff (e.g., ʻOumuamua really was very strange).

As you talk to people, telling your story, they will give you the feedback you need to tighten up your message and make it relevant. By the time you get an opportunity to ask a question of a candidate (or a candidate’s representative), you’ll be more effective. Keep in mind that in addition to being committed to their constituents’ interests, candidates also pay attention to people and organizations influencing large groups of likely voters. At these events, you’re not raising the awareness and value of your research with just the candidate. The people in some of these special interest groups also can resonate with why your work matters, and they have a disproportionate impact on future policy as current and future precinct chairs, boards of community groups, and business leaders.

We are not advocating becoming a member of these special interest organizations. Their objectives are based on a variety of motivations with mixed evidence of basis in fact, sincerity, or efficacy.

You know your evidence base in science, so stick to what you know. In the authors’ experience, a lot of money is dedicated to lobbying on other issues and almost none to science. No matter what your opinion may be on issues beyond your research, know that none of those other voices will be able to speak up for you.

Spoken and Unspoken Rules

There are certain rules for lobbying candidates that may or may not apply to your attendance at these events.

Be mindful of what you wear. For example, if you want to wear your company’s uniform or branded polo shirt, make sure your company does not have a policy against displaying its logo at political events. Fundraisers generally require more business attire than events like town halls.

Be aware of what’s on the agenda. You can expect the issues covered at fundraisers to be less divisive than those at more general meetings.

Be reasonable with expectations regarding access to the candidate. The opportunity to actually speak with the candidate is greater at a fundraiser. And note that if you are a government employee, you will need to carefully review the Hatch Act, which limits the political activity you’re allowed.

Finally, the best way to focus attention to your work is to volunteer on a campaign. Political campaigns are major endeavors that need a small workforce to approach voters and encourage community members to go to the polls. For example, one of us volunteered during the primary for a congressional candidate and talked to voters about his support for the innovation and market growth that come with space research. Former Rep. John Culberson (Texas), whom the authors credit as the legislative father of the Europa Clipper mission, then acted to prevent the loss of the Green Bank Telescope.

Scientists’ lives are very busy. We realize the advice offered here requires time and effort, but the campaign environment offers a unique opportunity to approach people who may have a significant influence on the scope of your field’s outreach and budget.

At the very least, the authors suggest that AGU members mail hard copies of their research papers, patents, and public outreach samples to congressional staff with notes giving them a short summary and thanking them for their support. Detail the source of funds that supported your work in the note, because it is almost certain they will not read your entire research paper.

The benefit from this type of communication is twofold: It stands out among the mail officeholders usually receive, and it gains attention to your work from the very people who help assemble priorities into law.

Author Information

Elizabeth Jensen ([email protected]), ACS Engineering & Safety, Houston; also at Planetary Science Institute, Tucson, Ariz.; and Deborah Jensen ([email protected]), ACS Engineering & Safety, Houston

Editor’s note: Deborah Jensen is a trustee of the Spring Independent School District (ISD) in Houston but does not represent Spring ISD or the Spring ISD board of trustees in this article.

Citation: Jensen, E., and D. Jensen (2024), How to get elected officials to support your science, Eos, 105, https://doi.org/10.1029/2024EO240419. Published on 20 September 2024.

Text © 2024. The authors. CC BY-NC-ND 3.0
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