Fax Your Senator: Numbers, Format and Steps

You can fax your senator from a computer or phone without owning a fax machine. Find the fax number on your senator’s official website, write a one-page letter on a single issue, upload it as a PDF to an online fax service and send it. With PerPageFax, that costs $0.50 per page, with no account or subscription.

This guide covers where to find the correct number, how to format the letter, how to send it and how to keep proof that it arrived.

TL;DR

Get the fax number from your own senator’s official website, usually on the “Contact” page, and choose the Washington, D.C. office or a state office.
Keep the letter to one page, one issue, with your name and return address, and a clear request in the first paragraph.
Send a PDF through an online fax service. At PerPageFax a one-page letter costs $0.50, and you get delivery confirmation.
Send it to the senators who represent your state. Senators generally acknowledge but do not answer other states’ constituents.
Pair the fax with a phone call if you can. Save your confirmation page.

Why people fax a senator

Senators receive messages by mail, web form, phone and fax. The U.S. Senate’s own guidance lists letters, web contact forms, calls and visits as the ways to reach your senators, and asks that policy questions, comments on legislation and requests for personal help go to the senators from your state.

Fax has a practical advantage: it arrives quickly. One professional association’s guide to contacting Congress says that faxing a letter to the member’s office is preferred over mail, because mail takes a long time to arrive due to security concerns. A fax also lands on paper in the office, so it can be handed to the staff member who handles that issue.

You do not need a machine of your own. Congressional offices have fax machines with numbers just like phones, and an online service sends your document to that number, where it prints as a paper copy.

Step 1: Find the right fax number

Use your senator’s official website. The Library of Congress explains that each senator’s site often has a “Contact” link at the top of the homepage, and the contact page will likely list mailing, phone and fax information for the D.C. and state offices.

The Senate also publishes a contact page for all senators. It points you to each state’s page or your senator’s site for phone numbers. The Capitol Switchboard can connect you to a senator’s office at (202) 224-3121. If you cannot find a fax number, call and ask the office for it.

Our own directory of Senate fax numbers by state and our guide on how to find your senator’s fax number can speed up the search. Always compare the number against the senator’s official page before you send.

Official routes for verifying a senator's fax number

Washington, D.C. or a state office?

Most senators list several offices, and each has its own fax number. The examples below, taken from senators’ official pages, show how different the listings can be:

Senator	Offices with a listed fax number	Example D.C. fax
Cory Booker (NJ)	Newark, Camden, Washington, D.C.	(202) 224-8378
Tom Cotton (AR)	Rogers, Jonesboro, Little Rock, El Dorado, Washington, D.C.	See the contact page
Chuck Grassley (IA)	Six Iowa offices and one in Washington, D.C.	(202) 224-6020

Senator Booker’s page also lists Newark at (202) 224-5702 and Camden at (202) 224-5701. Senator Cotton’s page lists Arkansas office numbers, such as Little Rock at (501) 244-9633. Numbers can change when offices move or are reorganized, so treat any list, including ours, as a starting point and confirm on the senator’s own site.

Which office should you choose? A practical rule:

Legislation and votes: the Washington, D.C. office, where policy staff work.
A local matter or a request for help with a federal agency: the state office closest to you.
Unsure: the D.C. office, and mention your city and ZIP code in the letter.

Step 2: Write a letter that gets read

The guidance from professional organizations is consistent. Keep it short, specific and personal.

Format

One page. The physiatry guidance recommends limiting the letter to one page, putting the purpose in the first paragraph and naming a specific bill number if there is one.
One subject. FedCURE’s guide advises covering one subject and identifying it at the top, for example “Re: [name of bill or issue]”.
Your details. Include your name, return address and telephone number. The Senate asks that you include your return postal mailing address so the office can confirm you live in the state.
A direct request. Ask for a specific action, such as voting for or against a named bill, and explain how the issue affects your community.
Your own words. A personal letter gets more attention than a form letter, according to the same physiatry guidance.

A simple structure

The American Bar Association’s guide to advocacy letters lays out an order you can follow: a salutation, an introduction with your ask, the problem, the impact, a direct request, a thank-you and your signature with contact details. On a single page, that works out to something like this:

Salutation: “Dear Senator [Last Name],”
Opening, two sentences: who you are, where you live, and the bill or issue you are writing about.
Context, two or three sentences: what the problem is and how it affects you or your community.
The ask, one or two sentences: exactly what you want the senator to do.
Closing: a thank-you, your full name, street address, city, state, ZIP, phone and email.

Add a cover sheet

A cover sheet tells the office staff who the fax is for and how many pages to expect. Put the senator’s name, the subject line, your name and the page count on it. Our free fax cover sheet builder creates one with a live preview and a PDF download. Remember that a cover page counts toward the page total when you are paying per page, so a one-page letter plus a cover sheet is two pages.

Step 3: Send the fax online

Here is the process with PerPageFax. The same general steps apply to most online fax methods.

Prepare the PDF. Save your letter as a PDF. Common image formats also work. If your letter is in several files, our free PDF tools can merge, split or organize them.
Open the service. Go to PerPageFax. You do not create an account.
Enter the number. Type the senator’s fax number from the official site. Double-check every digit, including the 202 area code for D.C. offices.
Upload your document. Add the letter, and the cover sheet if you made one.
Pay per page. The price is $0.50 per page, with no recurring fees.
Send and track. You can follow the status of the fax. Our service retries automatically if the first attempt does not go through, and sends delivery confirmation when the fax is delivered.
Save the confirmation. Keep it with a copy of your letter in case you want to refer to it in a follow-up call.

If you are working from a phone or a Mac, our guides to faxing from Android and faxing from a Mac cover those devices. For the general process without a phone line, see how to fax from a computer.

What a fax costs

Pricing is per page, so you can work out the cost before you start.

Document	Pages	Cost at $0.50 per page
One-page letter	1	$0.50
Letter with cover sheet	2	$1.00
Letter, cover sheet and one-page attachment	3	$1.50
The same letter to both of your senators	2 faxes of 2 pages	$2.00

The table uses our published price. If a fax fails, we refund it.

Which senators to fax

Send your message to the two senators who represent your state. The Senate’s guidance notes that many senators acknowledge but do not respond to a message from another state’s constituent, as a matter of professional courtesy. A fax to a senator from a different state is unlikely to get a substantive reply.

You can send the same letter to both of your senators. Address each fax to the individual senator and send them as two separate faxes.

If your issue concerns a committee that a senator chairs or sits on, you may also write to that senator. Say in the first paragraph that you are a constituent of another senator, and say why you are writing to this one.

Make the fax count: practical tips

Be local. Name your city or county, and explain how the issue affects people there.
Cite the bill. Use the bill number if you know it. Staff sort mail by issue, so a precise subject line helps them route it.
Stay on one topic. If you have three concerns, send three faxes.
Stay courteous. A polite, firm letter is easier to forward than an angry one.
Use readable type. Fax resolution is low, so use a plain 11 or 12 point font, dark text on white, and no tiny footnotes. Our tools can “faxify” a PDF so it prints clearly.
Follow up by phone. After the fax goes through, call the office and mention it. The Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 can connect you, and the Senate’s directory of senators’ office telephone numbers uses the 202 prefix for every number.

Our perspective

Most people who fax a senator have never faxed before. They want to say something on a deadline, such as before a vote, and they do not want to sign up for a service or learn new software to do it.

That is why we built PerPageFax around a flat price of $0.50 per page, with no account and no subscription. You know what a letter will cost before you upload it. You pay once, and the fax goes out.

We designed the service for the things that go wrong with a fax: a busy line, a wrong attempt, a document that does not arrive. Automatic retries, status tracking and delivery confirmation are there so you are not left guessing, and a failed fax is refunded. Encryption protects the document in transit, which matters when your letter includes your home address and phone number.

Our advice is simple. Take the number from the senator’s official page, keep the letter to one page, and keep your confirmation.

Engin

Send your fax now

When your letter is ready, you can send it in a few minutes. Upload the PDF, enter your senator’s fax number, pay $0.50 per page and get confirmation when it is delivered. There is no account to create and no subscription to cancel.

Send your fax with PerPageFax. If your letter goes to another government office, such as an agency, our guide on faxing a government office covers the differences.

FAQ

Do I need a fax machine to fax my senator?

No. An online fax service converts your PDF and sends it to the office’s fax machine, where it prints out on paper. You only need a device with an internet connection and the document. Our guide on sending a fax without a fax machine walks through it.

Where do I find my senator’s fax number?

Open your senator’s official website and look for the “Contact” page, which usually lists phone and fax numbers for the D.C. and state offices. If no fax number is shown, call the office through the Capitol Switchboard at (202) 224-3121 and ask for it. Confirm any number you copy from a list against the senator’s site.

How long should the letter be?

One page, covering one issue. Professional guidance on writing to Congress agrees on this, and also recommends stating your purpose in the first paragraph and including your name and return address. Short letters are cheaper to fax at $0.50 per page, too.

Will my senator reply to a fax?

It depends on the office and the volume of mail. Senators generally respond to their own constituents, so include your return address. A senator from another state will usually acknowledge your message but not answer it.

How do I know the fax arrived?

PerPageFax provides status tracking and delivery confirmation. Save the confirmation along with a copy of your letter. If the fax fails to deliver, we refund it, and you can try again to the same number or to another office.