Election Day 2025

How some right-wing cartoonists are looking at today's elections

Today is election day, and damn, I wish I were cartooning. These elections have gotten extremely hateful, rotten, dirty, and vile. Even here in little Fredericksburg, the election has gotten dirty. One campaign has put out a fake photo of their opponent.

The campaign for challenger Travis Bird, or a surrogate, has put out a fake photo of his opponent, incumbent Libby Humphries, in the (technically) non-partisan race for Fredericksburg Commonwealth’s Attorney. The dirty birds (see what I did there?) are trying to smear Humphries as a supporter of Attorney General candidate Jay Jones.

Why didn't they give her vampire teeth and devil horns? Come on, guys. Use some imagination.

As I mentioned, I really hate that I'm missing these elections. Not only am I missing the only two races for governor in this country, with one of them being in Virginia, but I'm also missing local elections.

I think it's really unfair that I can't cover this election while unethical MAGAts like Chip Bok, Dick Wright, Gary Varvel, and the fucknut twins of Margolis and Cox are all over this election with their lies, smears, and bigotry.

Chip does not live in Virginia, so what does he know? I wouldn't have a problem with this cartoon since it's just his opinion, but Jay Jones is not pissing on his political career. The people pissing on his political career are the Republicans who held onto the texts until after it was too late to remove Jay Jones from the ballot. This is dirty politics, which Chip supports.

Here, Chip is fear-mongering about electing Zohran Mamdani as mayor of New York City. I don't really have a problem with this cartoon either. While I don't agree with it, at least Chip isn't lying and is only expressing his uninformed opinion. At least he's not engaging in islamophobia…this time.

Fear-mongering with his Islamophobia is exactly what Steve Kelly is doing here.

Fear-mongering and spreading Islamophobia are what Gary McCoy is doing here. By the way, Gary said he will be praying for my recovery from my stroke. He didn't say it to me, but to a colleague. I don't believe in prayers, but I appreciate the sentiment. Thanks, Gary.

Dick Wright’s fear-mongering goes so far as to tell us that Mamdani is going to execute people.

Michael Ramirez is just going with the booga-booga route. There's no context to this other than that socialism is bad. What is socialism, and why is it bad? Never mind that, it's just bad. Booga-booga. You could just change the label on this cartoon from socialism to Kash Patel.

But context is not Mikey's strong point.

Fear-mongering with their Islamophobia comes naturally to racists like Margolis and Cox.

But if you are Dana Summers, who is quite possibly the dumbest political cartoonist in America, hatred of Muslims and fear-mongering is all you've got.

He also has ignorance, because Dana doesn't know the difference between a fascist, a socialist, or a communist.

Do you think Gary Varvel knows the difference between a Democratic Socialist and a communist?

Branco is a talking-point cartoonist. This is not a guy who will ever apply facts to his propaganda. He loves the hammer and sickle, and he really hates Muslims.

I wanted to take it easy on Tom because he bought me a $14 beer in Boston, and he is the only right-wing cartoonist who directly reached out to me after my stroke. I personally like Tom. But I can't ignore when he can't tell the difference between communism and democratic socialism, or when he engages in Islamophobia.

This might be progress because there's no islamophobia or confusion between socialism and communism in it, but you can't listen to financial jokes from people who still believe trickle-down works.

Steve Kelley and Dick Wright are both claiming that Abigail Spanberger refuses to answer questions, but the question they're referring to is about boys in girls’ locker rooms. This is something that's not happening. Here's a question you can’t answer: Why won't Donald Trump endorse her opponent, Winsome Earle-Sears? Why does Earle-Sears want to take away abortion rights from every woman in Virginia? Why does Earle-Sears support the firing of thousands of federal employees in Virginia? I care a little bit more about that than the hypothetical bullshit about boys in girls’ locker rooms.

In case you can't tell what's going on here, and it's very understandable if you don't because it doesn't make a lot of sense, Obama is dragging Abigail Spanberger across the finish line, who is anchored down by Jay Jones. Margolis and Cox ignore that Spanberger is 10 points ahead of Earle-Sears. Jay Jones is not a drag on Spanberger.

If what Jay Jones said was so bad three years ago, then why do Margolis and Cox have to lie about it?

On a sidenote: It’s not political cartooning if it’s created by a duo. One of the guys is an illustrator, and the other one is a gag writer. Neither is a political cartoonist. It is closer to cheating than it is to political cartooning, whether you’re left or right. If you want to be a political cartoonist, you need to be able to think and draw. And if you want to sell this stuff, then you should probably have some ethics too.

Tom, a $14 beer does not allow you to hit Jay Jones over this while ignoring Republicans in a chat group talking about how much they love Nazis.

Then there's this.

A friend pointed out that a cartoon of mine is displayed in Jim Acosta's podcast. How cool is that?

Stroke update:

Yesterday. Laura picked up my brand new walker and traded in the loaner. Something is off kilter about the new walker, but I'll figure that out when the home health therapy dude arrives later this week.

Speaking of that, I had my assessment today for home therapy. If you have a stroke, you need to get used to people asking you about your bowel movements, which is something I was asked about at the assessment. But by this point, you can't lose any more dignity after another adult has wiped your bum.

I am so thankful for Laura. Not only did she pick up my new walker and turn in the old one, but she also checked my mail at the post office and the box at my apartment complex (which is a better task than bum wiping). I have about 15 postcards from readers. I'm going to respond to everyone who sent me a card, as long as I can find their email address. I haven't opened them yet. I've been busy.

What kind of stuff am I busy with? Yesterday, I had a phone appointment with my bank where we went over financial stuff and how I can best deal with saving and paying off bills from the stroke. It also seems that I have to talk to medical people on the phone every day. Today, I think I've only talked to three so far.

My pal, Hana, visited me at my apartment yesterday, and she changed the bandage on my leg and clipped my fingernails. She offered to help me shave, but I think I'm gonna let this mess grow out a little bit. I have known Hana for about 20 years, and she stayed a while, and we talked about old times.

Support your local cartoonist: If you want to support the cartoonist, please donate through PayPal to clayjonz@gmail.com, Venmo to clay-jones-87, or snail mail it to Clay Jones, P.O. Box 3721, Fredericksburg, VA 22402. All support is appreciated.