How to Contact Our Elected Officials
If there are one or more issues that are important to you, it is easy to contact your elected officials and give them your opinion. This page offers links to the “contact” pages of our city council member and our state and federal legislators (plus the White House).
Later on this page, I’ll expand on my personal priority — communicating with our two U.S. Senators, and I’ll explain how the two of them differ.
If you have time and wish to get more involved than just sending messages from home, there are several ways to participate in organized groups. Most generally for our area in southwest Austin, consider attending the monthly meetings of the Blue Action Democrats (southwest Austin chapter). Those meetings are generally held on the first Sunday of every month. See the dates and sign up here.
Local politics
Get on the mailing list of our Council Member, Paige Ellis, by going to this page on her official website, and scrolling down until you see “Subscribe to our mailing list” in the left column.
To send an e-mail to Council Member Ellis, go to this webpage.
The Austin American-Statesman does a moderately good job of following local affairs, but I recommend that you keep up-to-date with local political developments by reading the weekly Austin Chronicle (hard copy available at grocery stores and other places) and by subscribing online to the Austin Commons, the Austin Bulldog, and the Austin Monitor. (these are each free, but they happily accept donations to stay alive).
State Legislature
Texas Senate (31 districts statewide)
We have an excellent State Senator — Sarah Eckhardt.
Her office phone number is 512-463-0114.
You can subscribe to her newsletter by signing up here.
You can send her an e-mail here. Send her your opinions on state issues that are important to you, or occasionally simply thank her for all her good work.
Texas House of Representatives (140 districts statewide)
We also have an excellent State Representative — Vikki Goodwin.
You can get on her newsletter list by going to this website and scrolling down the page until you see the section “Stay Informed.”
Her office phone number is 512-463-0652.
You can send her an e-mail here. As with our State Senator, you can send Rep. Goodwin your opinions on state issues that are important to you, or occasionally simply thank her for all her good work.
Organized Political Action
To become more involved and take action during the Texas Legislature’s biennial sessions (currently January – May 2025), join the Travis County Rapid Response Team by contacting Idona Griffith at tcdp267@gmail.com.
National Politics
Contacting the White House
You can send your opinion to the President on any topic by using this website.
U.S House of Representatives
Our member of the House is superb — Lloyd Doggett.
You can get his occasional updates by newsletter list by going to his official website and scrolling down until you see “Stay Connected.”
You can call him in Washington, DC at 202-225-4865, or call his local office at 512-916-5921.
You can send him an e-mail by using this webpage.
U.S. Senate
Our two U.S. Senators are Republicans John Cornyn and Ted Cruz. These are the officials most worth contacting, simply because we want them to hear from thousands and thousands of constituents.
They have very different personalities. They both have pledged fealty to President Trump, fearful of what he would do if they crossed him, but their histories are quite different:
- Ted Cruz has always been strident, far-right, and provocative. Since losing to Trump in the 2016 primary contest and being insulted and humiliated by him, he has become hard-core MAGA. He was easily re-elected for another six-year term last fall.
- John Cornyn, on the other hand, has a more professional and moderate manner. He was a Texas Supreme Court Justice and a Texas Attorney General back in the days when bipartisanship was more in vogue. But that history has made him vulnerable to a possible opponent from the far right in the Republican primary for his re-election race in 2026. He was booed at last year’s Texas Republican convention. Some observers believe that he will inevitably lose his primary. Since the election in November 2024, he has only rarely expressed any disagreement with President Trump (he stated that Russia started the war in Ukraine when asked about Trump’s statement to the contrary). But if he decides that defeat in 2026 is certain and thoughts about his legacy looms large, he may be a good vote on a few issues.
It’s important for them to know that large numbers of voters are very much opposed to Trump’s various actions. This awareness might make it possible to exploit any “cracks in the dam” that arise — we always have to be ready for that. Cornyn is also more likely than Cruz to have institutional respect for the Constitutional responsibilities of the U.S Senate as a “check and balance” in our system
Contacting Senator Cruz:
To send him an e-mail, go to his “contact” website here. At the end, you can check “Yes” — you want a response.
To call his Washington, DC office, the phone number is 202-224-5922. It may be impossible to get a live human being (this year they are often deluged with calls), but you can leave a message.
As an alternative, you can call his Austin office at 512-916-5834, and have a slightly better chance of talking with a human being.
Contacting Senator Cornyn:
To send him an e-mail, go to his “contact” website here. At the end, you can check “Yes” — you want a response.
To call his Washington, DC office, the phone number is 202-224-2934. As with Senator Cruz, it may be impossible to get a live human being, but you can leave a message.
As an alternative, you can call his Austin office at 512-469-6034, and have a slightly better chance of talking with a human being.
Another page on our precinct website (here) will track selected political issues as they arise and offer summary information for you to use in contacting these Senators.