Below is a good list of online petitions to either Senator Kaine or Senator Warner.

https://www.change.org/decision-makers/timothy-kaine
https://www.change.org/decision-makers/mark-warner

The Link below compares their votes head-to-head, and they don't always vote the same way.

https://projects.propublica.org/represent/members/K000384-tim-kaine/compare-votes/W000805-mark-warner/115

Thanks for all the the tips. Love the compare voting records tip.

https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/535/mark-warner

https://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/50772/tim-kaine

VA resident and active voter here. Warner’s voting record is much better than Kaine’s. Kaine is much better at constituent service than Warner.

Anonymous wrote:I would go to my congressional rep first.

+1
Plus, they are more "local" and may have a better understanding of XYZ since it is in their district.

Anonymous wrote:I would go to my congressional rep first.

+1
Back in the day I wrote to Senators Cardin and Mikulski's offices about an issue and got form replies from both. Someone from then Rep. Van Hollen's office personally called me and made sure things were resolved.

I would go to my congressional rep first.

Anonymous wrote:Just out of curiosity, what are some examples of problems the general public might contact a senator about? What can a senator do to help?

Health care (Obamacare, etc).
Social Security benefits
VA benefits
Kid to a service academy
Request for some kind of Senate recognition for some community event/service, etc.

Lots of reasons. Half a congress member's work is constituent services -- and in general there's nothing partisan about it. My very liberal family member in Texas got fantastic help from Senator Ted Cruz's office on a Social Security issue. We get so caught up on partisan bickering, we often forget this.

Anonymous wrote:Just out of curiosity, what are some examples of problems the general public might contact a senator about? What can a senator do to help?

Lots of issues:
VA problems
Social Security issues
are probably some of the most reported.

But, DH was in the Army and they sometimes received questions from Congreesional reps and Senators over things involving military justice or transfers, etc. Most were who had written Congressman because of something that their son/daughter had told them that was not exactly true.
I'm guessing this goes on in lots of agencies.

Just out of curiosity, what are some examples of problems the general public might contact a senator about? What can a senator do to help?

Good tips. Thank you.

I’d probably contact the woman directly that I know who works for Warner if I actually needed something. That wouldn’t really work for everyone, though.

I think in general, it’s best to contact both. Maybe check which committees they are on - that also might elevate your problem if they are on the committee that deals with whatever request you are making.

Both

If you Virginians need help from a US Senator who do you contact? Why?


Sen. Tim Kaine https://www.kaine.senate.gov/

or

Sen. Mark Warner https://www.warner.senate.gov/