How To Lobby Republicans If You’re a Liberal

If you’re a liberal constituent with a Republican representative or senator, I’m jealous.

Congressional Republicans have chosen to use reconciliation rules to pass the fiscal year 2026 budget. Consequently, Democrat Members of Congress (MOC) are effectively locked out of influencing federal policies and funding for mandatory spending programs and the debt ceiling. Constituents of Democrat MOCs should tell their MOCs what they want done, but also recognize, there’s little they can do since Republicans control both chambers of Congress.

If one or more of your MOCs are Republican, however, there’s a lot that you can do to influence what happens to the entire country. As a liberal constituent, however, you’ve got a hero’s road ahead of you full of challenges. First, accept and embrace that you and your Republican MOC(s) have very different values, assumptions, beliefs, ways of understanding information, and identifying who should be cared for. That’s okay–it’s even a gift, if you support diversity of opinion and perspective and can maintain an open, curious mindset.

Lobbying is Built on Relationships

Second, know that successful, long-term lobbying successes are built on relationships, not deal-making. Deal-making might get support for a one-time event, like a particular congressional bill. On-going support, however, is built on relationships, and relationships are built on these three elements:

• Know the MOC, not the projection of who you think they are. Learn what they value, and, if possible, why. That’s critical information you’ll need later on. Contact the MOC often enough for them to know you.
• Like the MOC for being who they are and at least something they have done. Cultivate respect for them, even if you disagree. Embrace the idea that your conservative MOC is a fellow human being trying to do what they believe is right. Hopefully, you’ll find you can both support the same end goal, even when you disagree on which path is best. If you can’t like your MOC for at least one thing, you two will remain adversaries, not allies. You’ll focus your energy and awareness on defending and proving your point-of-view, your MOC will ignore and/or discount your perspective, and neither of you will be open to other alternatives.
  Become a helper to your MOC by providing them the support they want in a timely manner. That support might be information, defending them on the thing(s) you like them for, respecting them enough to be honest, et cetera. Ask them what you can do to help them. Thank them for doing things you like.
• Trust what the MOC says is true (at least, from their perspective). Show they can trust you to provide accurate information, support them, and honor commitments. President Reagan’s “trust, but verify” is a good maxim to keep in mind. Constituents need to hold their MOCs accountable. If you have trouble with commitments, get some kind of support to hold yourself accountable.

The elements are building blocks, not levels or steps. The more you and your MOC know, like, and trust each other, the more resources you have to go for bigger wins. Start small and work up. These elements generally rise and fall in sequence depending on the strength of the relationship. Remember, the primary goal of each interaction with a MOC is to strengthen the relationship–not to get them to say yes.

Third, continue to learn what policies and programs they support–and why, if you can. Understanding why they support what they do helps you understand their individual values and perspective(s). If you use those in your pitch, your request will harmonize with their sense of what is right to do.

Always remember, if you’re a liberal and your MOC is a Republican, you must use their values. If you want your MOC to support your requests and knock them out of the park, they have to be able to connect with the request you’re pitching. If you’re pitching using your values, your MOC will always strike out. They won’t see why they should support what you’re pitching because it won’t make sense to them, and consequently, they won’t want to touch it.

Note: All the tips and suggestions in this post also apply to Republican MOCs’ staff. Staff are the gatekeepers to their bosses and support their bosses in many ways, so developing good relationships with staffers greatly helps with creating and developing a relationship with their boss.

Motivational Interviewing Helps in Developing Relationships

If you create the opportunity to talk directly with a MOC, you have a golden opportunity to use Motivational Interviewing (MI) techniques to learn what they value. Some of these techniques are a set of core skills known as OARS and listed below:

• Open-ended questions, such as “what do you think about …” or “how do you think we should solve the problem of …”. Avoid asking questions like “why do you think that”. Why questions tend to reinforce people’s positions, rather than open them to consider alternatives. Asking yes/no questions rarely helps you to understand their values. Instead, they often lead to asking why questions or projecting what you think their reasons are onto them.
• Affirm what they said that you like. It could be one or more of their efforts, values, or intentions, but it has to be something you can sincerely appreciate them for. For example, “I like what you said about …. I think that’s important”, or “I’m excited we both support ….” Avoid lying. Unless you’re a great actor or liar, they’ll know when you’re insincere, and that will weaken your relationship.
• Reflect what you understood them to say. That helps you verify you understood them correctly. It also shows you respect them enough to listen to what they said and want to ensure you understand it.
• Summarize at the end of the meeting what they said, what options were discussed and agreed upon, why the discussion and agreed upon options are important, and/or what the next steps or plan are. Doing this helps strengthen the relationship’s know, like, and trust elements.

There’s a lot more to learn about MI, but using even the little above will greatly help deepen your relationship with the MOC.

Moral Foundation Theory Helps in Understanding Ours and Others Moral Values

Moral Foundation Theory (MFT) tells us that liberals, conservatives, and libertarians are influenced by six moral foundations in different ways. I think that conservatives are the most morally complex and varied. They tend to be influenced by all six foundations and have different definitions of what a moral community looks like. What one conservative believes is moral can greatly differ from another conservative’s belief.

Understanding which moral foundation(s) strongly influence an MOC enables you to make requests based on those values. That’s why I wrote knowing what they value and why is critical. Unless you and your MOC are influenced by the same moral foundations in the same way, which is impossible if you’re liberal and your MOC is conservative or libertarian, you’ll each have different reasons for supporting something.

If your MOC is Republican, I guarantee he or she won’t support programs to save starving, impoverished children just because children should be cared for. That’s a liberal reason for supporting those programs. From a conservative perspective, saving those children could actually be immoral. It depends on whether and how deserving of saving your particular conservative MOC feels those particular children are.

Remember that conservatives are much more group focused than liberals. Psychology studies show conservatives are more likely than liberals to help those in need if the conservatives believe those in need are in the same group as the conservative. That’s the secret sauce to lobbying a conservative: get them to see those needing support are part of the conservative’s group.

From a libertarian perspective, unless saving those children improves the liberty of those of whom the libertarian cares about, there’s more important things to spend taxpayer money on. Based on MFT, libertarians tend to be influenced primarily by the liberty foundation, with the other foundations trailing way behind. If your MOC is a libertarian, try emphasizing how policies you want them to support increase personal freedom for those impoverished through no fault of their own by outside factors the impoverished cannot control.

What to Do Next

Republican MOCs are in perilous positions. If they don’t publicly support President Trump, he and his supporters will call them a Republican In Name Only (RINO), and your Republican MOCs will face retribution from so-called Republicans. I say so-called because Trump and his followers have effectively redefined RINO to only mean anyone disloyal to Trump.

For traditional Republicans who still use conservative and libertarian values to guide them, thank them. Encourage them to wear RINO as a badge of honor, signaling they place loyalty to their values above loyalty to President Trump. If they’re willing to go against Trump, thereby risking their job in their next primary election, that’s at least one reason for you as a liberal to like your MOC.

My previous post What is the Best Way to Defend the U.S. Constitution talks about ways to influence MOCs and my 10 Most Powerful Ways to Influence Politicians page has links to specific techniques and tools developed by the advocacy training organization RESULTS over the last 45 years. RESULTS has a proven history of successfully influencing both Democrats and Republicans, and I’m proud to be a RESULTS volunteer.

Finally, as a liberal constituent of one or more Republican MOCs, your words have more influence on the direction the U.S. goes than the majority of Democrats in the country. Only constituents can vote whether to hire or fire their MOCs for another term. The choice to use those words is up to you. Please use them!