Being an AHA advocate during campaign season

As a non-profit, the American Heart Association cannot and does not engage in candidate politics and therefore we do not endorse candidates. But as we get further into campaign season there are still opportunities for you to find out where your potential elected officials stand on heart issues before they are in office!

When a candidate knocks on your door you can ask them where they stand on issues that are important to you! Have you been invited by a neighbor to a house partner in support of someone running for office? Are you attending a political event where candidates will be present and talking to potential constituents? Choose your most passionate part of the heart association portfolio and ask questions. Do they support tobacco control policies that would protect kids like flavor restriction policies? Do they support funding programs that help improve access to healthy foods like SNAP incentives and universal school meals? Do they believe we can make improvements to our health system that will increase survival rates for victims of heart attack and stroke like data registries and hospital certification programs?

Every day we are in awe of what our advocates do to step up and help us pass heart healthy policies. If you have an interesting conversation with a candidate and think they would step up and be a champion for one of our policies, let us know! Next session there are going to be a lot of new faces in the building, and the quicker we have an idea of where our new supporters are, the better off we will be.