Time to Talk to Your Candidates about the Food Issues that Matter in Your Community
October 13, 2026
Advocates for food systems transformation, start your engines! The midterms are upon us and they offer an opportunity to participate in shaping the world we want to live in. This includes decisions about the food we want to produce and eat, and the soil, air and water we want to keep clean for future generations!
The next U.S. midterm elections will be held on November 3, 2026, with all 435 House seats, 35 Senate seats on the ballot. It’s important to remember that many State Senators and State Representatives will also be elected in November, and 36 governorships are being contested. While all eyes might be on national politics, local and state elections offer spaces for voters to connect with people who represent their communities closer to home. Candidates are out asking for your support, and this is a great time to ask questions about the issues, challenges, and barriers that communities are facing, and to place these priorities within the context of a right to food.
Anyone who believes food is a human right and wants to elect politicians who believe that as well can use this time leading up to the election on November 3rd to hold conversations about our food systems priorities with those seeking to represent us at local and state levels. In the United States, we expect to be represented by a government that is by and for the people. This means all of us have a role to play in working with and holding our elected leaders accountable for representing our priorities while in office.
There are many approaches to engaging with candidates to garner their support for and even commitment to an issue. Bird-dogging is one such method: a tactic used by advocates to gain public commitment from elected officials during public appearances. Other methods include hosting site visits or organizing visits to the candidate’s office, using guerrilla art to call attention to injustices, lettering writing campaigns, or demonstrations. Each of these methods can be effective in garnering commitments or highlighting critical issues.
Right to Food Election Conversation Guides for Community Advocates
Developed collaboratively by members and partners of the National Right to Food Community of Practice, we have launched a set of election conversation guides. These are designed to support community and local advocates to use a human rights approach when engaging with candidates for local and state office about food systems issues ahead of the November 2026 election. A rights-based approach emphasizes the importance of accountable relationships between elected officials and their constituents. This means the guides are geared toward conversations that build and sustain these relationships, especially in the lead up to an election.
These guides were a response to one of the key challenges many people face: How do you build a narrative bridge for people who care about all the ways we aren’t getting it right with food in our communities, but don’t see themselves as connected to a right to food?
The guides are non-partisan. They are not intended to support any particular party or candidate. The sample questions are written in a way that encourages candidates to think about the power they will have to affect decisions if elected, and focus on building a shared understanding that they should use that power to support a just food system that nourishes people and the planet.
Most importantly, these guides help people in communities throughout the country to ground the issues they care about IN A RIGHT TO FOOD FRAMEWORK. Check out our overview of a right to food to find where your priorities fit into this work.
We encourage you to download and share them, adapt them for your own context or specific issue area. These guides are useful during an election season or whenever you have an opportunity to interact with a public servant, agency head or elected official. Use the questions to build relationships grounded in shifting the narrative and strengthening accountability to our democratic process as we work towards the realization of the right to food in places close to home.
Includes tips for:
Engaging with candidates and drafting questions
Seeing your priorities as part of a right to food
Sample questions about:
SNAP and Federal Cuts to Food Assistance
School Meals and Local Procurement
Support for Local Farmers
Climate and Environmental Protection
Cost of Living and Affordability
Carceral Nutrition
Guides adapted for Priorities in the State Legislature for the Following Locations -
For more detailed explanations about the Election Conversaton Guides, watch this recording of the presentation on Election Communication, Narratives and the Right to Food given to the FoodComms Cafe. And check out these slides from the recent Closing the Hunger Gap webinar.
We’d like to thank partners at the Maine Food Policy Work Group, Hunger Free Maine, Metro Caring, and Northwest Harvest for their collaboration to tailor guides to local contexts.
