We’re coming up on the midterm elections for US Congress. This is a great opportunity for us to connect with the Representatives and Senators and the candidates for those offices. Here’s how.

❶ Go to ballotpedia.org and on the left side, select Elections and Preview Your Ballot.

❷ Then type in your address and pull up your candidates.

❸ There are several elections. Usually the first one listed is the primary. Sometimes there is a special election in between, but you’ll have to click and see if that’s the right election for the primary.

❹ Included on the ballot are state races and other ballot initiatives – we’re not interested in those. Our concern is the US Congress – the U.S. House and the U.S. Senate. In your state, you may have a Senate campaign, but in this example, there is no Senate seat up for election. You’ll go through each one of these candidates for House and Senate. This is just one example here.

❺ This race has a large number of candidates. For this example we will select one of the candidates and click on his name (you can go in order). Over on the right, you can see the candidate’s contact information. We want to focus on candidates who have a campaign website. If they don’t have a campaign website then just skip it, because that’s not a serious campaign that we want to invest time and energy in.

NOTE: You should also click and follow them on their campaign social media accounts. This will accelerate the process and open up doors if the steps below do not produce immediate results.

❻ Open up their campaign site. Here is where you start connecting with the candidate. Most of them will have a way to sign up for their email list. You want to fill that out so that you get on their list. That way you can start monitoring what’s going on, and interacting with the campaign.

So now, we are on their mailing list, so we are going to start getting announcements about events, town halls, and various updates about the campaign.

❼ Additionally, there is usually direct contact information. Thus we can email and call the campaign. Go ahead and send an email to the campaign.

Send the email and ask for a time to meet with him. We will arrange for someone form the US Inventor join you once a meeting is scheduled.

Subject: Innovation Policy

I am a business owner from Plano and a member of the national advocacy organization US Inventor (usinventor.org). In recent years our patent system has been undermined, making it extremely difficult for small businesses with great ideas to compete. In short, large corporations are stealing our intellectual property and Congress has enabled and encouraged it.

Can we set up a time to meet with Brad later this week to discuss his background and views on innovation policy? I will be joined by staff from US Inventor who have deep expertise in this.

❽ In this case there is a phone number as well. Go ahead and give him a call. It takes a little bit of persistence to get their attention. We are going to get through and get them on the record – usually they are anxious to support!

Josh: Hi. This is Josh Malone. I was hoping to speak to someone about Brad’s campaign for Congress.

Candidate: Sure.

Josh: All right, is this Brad?

Candidate: Yes, this is Brad!

Josh: Hey, it’s good to meet you. I’m a small business owner, and I’m also an Inventor. I’ve run into problems from Big Tech taking over the patent system and rigging it so that we can’t compete with them. To make a long story short, I joined a national organization of 60,000 inventors called US Inventor, and we’ve been working with Congress to address the issue. Congressman Thomas Massie from Kentucky is an inventor and he introduced a bill that would restore the constitutional patent system that we had for almost 200 years. The bill is H.R. 5874 The Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act. We want to find candidates to support who will get behind this and support small businesses.

If you’re elected to Congress, will you support startups and inventors to create jobs all across America by co-sponsoring Rep. Thomas Massie’s Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act – HR 5874?

Candidate: That’s what our campaign is about. We’re going to help small businesses and we’ll be honored to have your support.

Josh: Well, I’m interested. We’re actually tracking candidates who are committed to this – to turning this issue around. Can I send you a draft policy statement for you to review and consider posting on your website and social media?

Candidate: I would be honored to.

Josh: Fantastic. Thank you Brad. Good luck, and thanks for your time.

Our goal is to get him to add a statement to his website as well as social media accounts.

❾ Send an email a draft statement, and ask him to put that on his website.

Brad, it was great to speak with you this evening.

Please consider adopting this policy statement and posting on your issues and social media. Let me know if you have any questions.

STATEMENT IN SUPPORT OF STARTUPS AND INVENTORS – INNOVATION IN AMERICA

Startups and inventors produce new innovative products that grow the economy and create jobs for Americans. Unfortunately, the America Invents Act of 2011 and several Supreme Court rulings have decimated the previously strong patent rights our Founding Fathers included in our Constitution.

Startups are under attack by Big Tech, the Chinese, using a non-judicial tribunal within the patent office, the PTAB. The PTAB has invalidated over 84% of duly issued patents they have reviewed.

I strongly support startups and independent inventors across America.

If elected, I will co-sponsor Representative Massie’s Restoring America’s Leadership in Innovation Act – HR 5874. HR 5874 will restore integrity to the U.S. patent system, propelling America to the pinnacle of global innovation once again.

So again, this is just the one candidate. Go back and do the same thing with the other candidates.

Be sure to follow up to sustain the dialogue and get the candidates to follow through on posting the statement to their websites and/or social media accounts.

Please let me know if you get results so we can link to the statement and amplify. Also let me know if you get stuck or need help. Contact me at josh@usinventor.org.

Good luck!