How to Write an LTE

This campaign is a people-powered grassroots movement and would not be possible without people like you. Please use this guide to coach you through writing and submitting your letter.

Letters to the editor are one of the most widely read sections of the paper. In addition to the general public, public officials and their staff, our allies and potential allies, newspaper editors and reporters, and other opinion leaders also pay close attention to letters to the editor. If these people see that Elizabeth has grassroots support, they will be more likely to join #TeamWarren.

The goal of a letter to the editor is to explain your support of Elizabeth Warren using your personal experience and voice and share ways other supporters (or potential supporters) can get involved.

Sample Letters to the Editor

Step 1

Find the Letters to the Editor address

Find your local newspaper’s Letters to the Editor submission email on their website.

Step 2

Follow the word limit

Be sure to obey your newspaper’s word limit, sometimes as low as 150-200 words.

Step 3

Write the letter

Write your letter! See more below for our tips on how to make it compelling.

Step 4

Email your letter

Paste your letter into the body of your email.

Step 5

Share your contact information

Note that many newspapers will require that letter writers submit contact information with their letter. Phone numbers won’t be published. This is just to verify your identity.

Step 6

Submit your letter locally

Submit to smaller local papers, not just the nearest big city paper. You’ll have a better chance of getting published.

TIPS ON HOW TO WRITE A LETTER

  • Focus on one topic. If you have two, write a second letter. For example, write about her plan for student loan debt relief or women in leadership, but not both.
  • Be clear and concise—you only have around 200 words or less to make your point. Obey those word count limits. If your letter gets long, write a second letter.
  • Be yourself. You don’t need to talk like an academic or a policy expert. Remember, you’re a smart, passionate voter who’s paying attention, one who other voters might identify with—and that’s the most powerful thing you can be.
  • Connect your personal experience. Draw attention to who you are and how you relate to those in your community. Connect your story to the issue—why are YOU supporting Elizabeth Warren?

SAMPLE LETTER

Warren has it right

To the Editor: Those of us concerned about the climate crisis can feel heartened by Sen. Elizabeth Warren’s comments at a house party in Lebanon this month.

She was asked, essentially, what difference do all of her policies make, if we destroy our planet?

She replied warmly and passionately about “the existential threat” to life on earth and then outlined her plans to get carbon-based fossil fuel/Koch brothers money out of Washington in order to restore American leadership and work toward the health of our planet.

She is so right. Recently the Washington Post revealed in a special report that the fossil-fuel companies, including Koch Industries, have spent millions of dollars over the past several decades undermining our clear scientific understanding of human-created climate change in order to change the national consensus to do something about this crisis. Unfortunately, their efforts have succeeded, creating confusion and uncertainty about what is now clear: We have a climate emergency. It is caused by human burning of carbon-based fuels. We must act now.

Kudos to Senator Warren for speaking honestly and forcefully about what we need to do to prevent a climate crisis from becoming a climate catastrophe.

SAM and JULIE OSHERSON