This OTYCD entry originally posted in June 2017.

 

Set aside some time to look into the voting records of your state house rep and your state senator, and figure out if they’re people who you can support.

 

Can you name your state-level house rep and senator? Could you do so before November 8, 2016? No worries, none of us at OTYCD could either.

 

If you don’t know who your state house rep and state senator are, go to the link below and plug in your address and zip code to get their names:

https://whoaremyrepresentatives.org

 

Once you have their names, google them. See what they’ve voted for, and what bills they’ve sponsored. Also pull up their state legislative biography pages and see what committees they’re on.

 

Do they represent you well? Dig deep into what you find, and give yourself time to think about it all. State-level politics allows for less ideological rigidity. It doesn’t guarantee it, but it allows it. Conservative Democrats and liberal Republicans are extinct on the federal level, but there are some at the state level. Stay alert. The folks who call themselves Democrats may not match your values, and those who call themselves Republicans could well be the better choice.

 

You need to get acquainted with the voting records and overall performance of your state-level reps so you’re better informed when it comes time to vote.

 

If you’re like us, you followed this procedure when you found yourself in the voting booth and faced with the need to pick a state-level rep:

 

Is this person a Democrat?

 

Has this person done anything embarrassing, awful, or glaringly incompetent?

 

If the answers are “yes” and “no” respectively, they get the black check. If not, no.

 

That strategy is no longer good enough. Schedule some time to really learn who your state-level reps are, and learn if they’re people who you can get behind.

 

If they are, think about what you can do to support them when they run again, be it donating, door-knocking, putting a sign on your lawn, whatever.

 

If they’re not, start scouting for candidates who you can support.

 

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