All politics is local, and right now, candidates for Congress need to hear from you about substance use prevention, treatment, recovery, and rescue/overdose response.
The 2026 congressional elections represent a critical opportunity, as all 435 House seats and 35 Senate seats are up for election. That means hundreds of candidates will be making their case to voters in communities across the country. This is your moment to put drug, alcohol, and nicotine issues on their radar.
CADCA’s public policy team has created a Congressional Election Guide with everything you need to engage candidates on these issues. If you work with a coalition, advocate in your community, or care about substance use policy, this guide is built for you.
Candidates are listening. They want to know what matters to voters in your community. The good news is that federal policy shapes what happens on the ground. Congress funds community prevention coalitions. They write laws about treatment access, recovery support, overdose response, and emerging drug threats like intoxicating hemp-derived products. The positions that candidates take now will determine what policies they support once they’re in office.
If these issues don’t get asked about during the campaign, they won’t be priorities in January 2027.
CADCA's election guide covers the full scope of substance use policy:
- Community-based prevention and the Drug-Free Communities program
- Federal funding for substance use disorder treatment
- Good Samaritan laws and overdose response
- Support for people in recovery
- Underage drinking prevention
- Youth vaping and flavored nicotine products
- Emerging threats like kratom and intoxicating hemp-derived products
The guide includes sample questions for each issue area designed to get candidates to take clear positions. You can use these questions at campaign events, town halls, on social media, or submit them through candidates’ websites.
How to Use the Guide
Step 1: Find Your Candidates
Use CADCA’s Election Center (included in the guide) to identify who’s on the ballot in your district or state. Enter your zip code and address to see your Senate and House races, learn about current representatives, and find candidate websites.
Step 2: Ask the Right Questions
Pick the issues that matter most to your coalition. The guide gives you specific questions to get candidates on record about prevention funding, treatment access, overdose response, and more. Ask at campaign events, town halls, through social media, or on candidate websites.
Step 3: Document and Share
When you get a candidate response, record it. Fill out the follow-up form on page 16 of the guide and send it to CADCA at publicpolicy@cadca.org. Your data helps us understand where candidates stand and where there are gaps.
Consider sharing candidate responses with local media. If one candidate commits to supporting your issues, use that to push others: “Candidate X is on board. Where do you stand?” Publicize the answers in your newsletter, letters to the editor, or social media.
