How to Research and Select Effective Targets for Your Campaign

In early 2017, Seattle Indivisible sent out an action asking people to call their senators about a cabinet nomination. Hundreds of volunteers made calls. The problem? The nomination was being decided by a committee that neither of Washington’s senators sat on. Our calls were logged, sure. But they had zero influence on the actual vote.

We’d done everything right except the most important thing: we’d picked the wrong target.

Why Target Selection Matters

Your volunteers need to understand why they’re calling a specific person. “Call Senator Smith” isn’t enough. “Call Senator Smith because she sits on the Judiciary Committee and hasn’t announced her position yet” gives your volunteer something to hold onto when they’re waiting on hold, wondering if this call matters.

Types of Targets

Not all targets are created equal.

Committee members. Most bills live or die in committee. If a bill is stuck in the Senate Health Committee, calling senators who aren’t on that committee is mostly symbolic. Find out who sits on the relevant committee and whether any of them are persuadable.

Swing votes. On contentious votes, identify the legislators who are genuinely undecided or have shown willingness to cross party lines. These are high-value targets because their votes are actually in play.

Your own representatives. Constituent calls carry weight. Staffers track where calls come from. An in-district call from a constituent is logged differently than a call from out of state.

Decision-makers on specific issues. Sometimes the target isn’t a legislator at all. It might be an agency head, a committee chair who controls whether something gets a hearing, or a governor who can veto.

Where to Research

For federal targets, GovTrack shows committee assignments, voting records, and bill status. Congress.gov has official committee rosters. For state legislatures, check your state’s official legislative website for committee membership.

Local news often reveals more than official sources. A legislator’s Twitter feed can show where they’re leaning on an issue before they make a formal statement. Press releases from their office signal priorities.

Don’t overlook the obvious: call the legislator’s office and ask. “Can you tell me the Senator’s position on HB 1234?” Staffers will often tell you, or at least tell you they haven’t taken a position yet—which is valuable information.

Match Targets to Your Audience

Remember who you’re writing for. If your list is mostly people from one congressional district, target their representative. Those calls will count as constituent contacts.

If your list is geographically scattered, targeting one specific state senator means most of your volunteers will be calling as non-constituents. That’s not useless, but it’s less powerful. Consider whether there’s a different target where more of your audience can claim constituent status.

When to Target Multiple People

Sometimes you need primary and secondary targets. The primary target is the person whose vote or decision you most need to influence. Secondary targets are people who might influence the primary target, or who might matter if the primary target is unreachable.

Be careful here. Asking volunteers to call five different offices dilutes your impact and exhausts your list. If you’re targeting multiple people, be clear about priority: “Start with Senator Jones. If you have time, also call Senator Williams.”

Common Mistakes

Targeting everyone at once. “Call all your representatives!” sounds comprehensive but often means none of the calls are strategic. Pick the target that matters most.

Ignoring committee structure. Non-committee members can voice support, but they don’t vote until the bill reaches the floor.

Targeting people who can’t affect the outcome. If a vote already has enough support to pass, calling supporters doesn’t change anything. If someone has publicly committed to a position, they’re unlikely to flip. Target the persuadable.

Tying It Together

Target selection builds directly on knowing your audience. Who are your volunteers? Where do they live? What relationships can they credibly claim? A good target for one organization might be useless for another.

Next week, we’ll tackle the piece that ties everything together: writing introductions that give your volunteers the confidence to actually pick up the phone. All the research in the world doesn’t matter if your people freeze when it’s time to dial.