Reimagining Postcard Outreach—Skewering Billionaire Influence and Misinformation

Using cartoons, a new effort combining art, humor, and civic messaging to re-engage voters outside traditional partisan frameworks.

Need a laugh? Or want to make someone else laugh while helping the cause? Your time has come.

In the spirit of new approaches to voter engagement. Cartoons for Democracy, a nonprofit, plans to send 10,000 postcards with thought-provoking political cartoons to reach an often-overlooked audience: “pink-to-purple voters”.

Traditional postcard campaigns tend to focus on mobilizing low-propensity Democratic voters, Cartoons for Democracy targets “pink-to-purple” voters – Non-MAGA Republicans, Independents, and Democrat-leaning voters who may not be loyal to any party. These voters often resist overt political messaging, leaving them susceptible to subtle influence by those who can afford to present biased information through perceived “non-political” media.

According to a report from Data for Progress, voters who didn’t follow the news were more likely to vote for the current administration by double-digit margins in 2024. That insight has fueled Cartoons for Democracy’s efforts to bypass traditional media and get a message to those voters.

Unlike most partisan mailers or TV ads, Cartoons for Democracy’s cartoons avoid direct attacks on specific parties or figures. "We’re trying to make inroads with people who immediately tune out when they hear party affiliations,” said Erin Miller, Cartoons for Democracy’s Founder and CEO. “Other organizations will deliver hard-hitting messages. We want to flank those efforts. We will act like a splinter under the skin—persistent and enduring. We’re using satire as an attention-getter.”

"Political cartoons have successfully worked on audiences of all education levels and attention spans for hundreds of years," said Miller. "The message of a cartoon is absorbed more quickly than the time it takes to absorb paragraphs of text.”

Library of Congress, 1754 etching

Credit goes to Benjamin Franklin for publishing the first political cartoon in the states. The segments of the snake are labeled with the abbreviations of the 13 colonies.

The Cartoons for Democracy effort is part of a larger recognition that appealing to humor, shared values, and common sense could be a way to engage inattentive voters.

Currently, Cartoons for Democracy is focusing efforts on Virginia’s 2nd Congressional District, aiming to impact both the upcoming gubernatorial race and build momentum for the 2026 congressional election.

For activists ready to shake off burnout and engage voters in new, creative ways, Cartoons for Democracy offers a witty, art-powered tool that aims to inform — one postcard at a time. Find out more, including how to participate, here.

Contributors: Cartoons for Democracy, Martha Merson, and Steve Schear

The founding team of Cartoons for Democracy is made up of seasoned professionals in the business and design world, retired federal employees (thanks DOGE!), attorneys, development officers, and artists, who have been volunteering for liberal causes since 2016. The founder/CEO and board of directors are women, as are most of the volunteers.