Wuerker at work

 Matt Wuerker is the cartoonist at Politico and has been since the very beginning. It's based in my town, but I'd never visited the newsroom. During the government shutdown, Matt invited me to come by. With his permission, here's some photos.

 

Politico is in an office building in Rosslyn and you have to travel through what Matt jokingly called 'The Biosphere' to get to the office area.

This wall of cartoons, essentially 3 giant stickers was created about 11 years ago when they moved into this office.

Here's a photo for scale.

Here's the only Trump cartoon, from the 2015 primaries.

Matt says there are plans to update the wall with newer cartoons.

 

He sits at the back of the newsroom with his artist's desk and watercolors

 

He still draws and paints by hand, and only does some effects digitally.

 

 

 

He's got a few personal touches including a certificate for being an original Politico member (on the pillar) and some cartoonist histories.

 

 

He was finishing up a drawing and doing the lettering separately to drop it in with Photoshop.

 

 

The finished cartoon on his Instagram feed.

A table of original art sits on the far side of his cubicle for his coworkers and visitors to look through.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is one of his favorite cartoons of 2025.

 Like many single-panel cartoonists, Matt would like to be published in the New Yorker, and submits some works to them regularly. So far, the acceptance call hasn't come through, although he's won most of the editorial cartooning awards including the Berryman award last week. 

 

On the Record about Off the Record, DC's cartoon bar

by Mike Rhode

7/15: updates to the original post marked with *  - 4 pieces from KAL, and one sheet of photos so far.

 KAL's newsletter post about his coaster artwork inspired me to finally finish this. 

Supreme Court justices for the circular corner booth, courtesy of Ann Telnaes

A few months ago, Matt Wuerker created this guide to who was who in the 1990s caricatures by Edmund Valtman and Ron Coddington on the wall (note 1) in the bar in the Hay-Adams Hotel. He was able to identify everybody but one. To learn more about them, you can read “On The Record With Off The Record's Cartoonists,” White House History (48; Winter 2018): 60-71 at https://issuu.com/whhapubl/docs/whha_journal_48 

  

the unknown caricature

There are other cartoons and caricatures on the walls, but Matt was concerned with identifying these.  

Now, an attempt to list all of the coasters they've produced. 

Kim Jong-un by Matt and Angela Merkel by Kal

 Here's an almost certainly incomplete list of caricatures, with who drew them, and the year when known. I had a short list of ones I didn't own, but I think I've lost that. There were more foreigner leaders iirc, and perhaps a Pope.

Mitch McConnell by KAL and Putin by Matt

*Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC)	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2025
Angela Merkel	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2017
Ben Carson	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
Boris Johnson	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2022
Carly Fiorina	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
Donald Trump	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
*Elizabeth Warren	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
Gavin Newsom	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2023
George W. Bush with Barack Obama	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
Joe Biden	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
*John Kerry	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
*Kristi Noem	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2025
Mike Pence	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
Mitch McConnell	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2014
Paul Ryan	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2015
*Pete Buttigieg	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2025
Robert Mueller	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'	2018
Ted Cruz with Canadian Club whiskey	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
Ted Cruz with tea	Kallaugher, Kevin 'KAL'
Chris Christie	Telnaes, Ann	2015
Hillary Clinton	Telnaes, Ann	2015
J.D. Vance	Telnaes, Ann	2024
Kamala Harris	Telnaes, Ann	2021
Lindsay Graham	Telnaes, Ann	2022
Melania Trump and the Trump children	Telnaes, Ann	2016
Ruth Bader Ginsberg	Telnaes, Ann	2017
Anthony Fauci	Wuerker, Matt	2021
Bernie Sanders	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Bernie Sanders with FDR on the wall	Wuerker, Matt	2019
Biden vs. Trump	Wuerker, Matt	2024?
Charles Schumer and Nancy Pelosi	Wuerker, Matt	2016
Chris Christie and Michellee Obama	Wuerker, Matt
Donald and Melania Trump decorating the White House	Wuerker, Matt	2025
Elizabeth Warren with Cory Booker, Pete Buttigieg, and Beto O'Rourke	Wuerker, Matt	2019
George HW, Barbara, George W and Jeb Bush	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Hakeem Jeffries	Wuerker, Matt	2024?
Hillary Clinton with Bill Clinton	Wuerker, Matt
Jeb Bush	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Joe and Jill Biden	Wuerker, Matt
John Boehner	Wuerker, Matt
John Boswell	Wuerker, Matt
Kamala Harris with Joe Biden	Wuerker, Matt	2019
Kevin McCarthy, Speaker of the House, Matt Gaetz, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Lauren Boebert, George Santos. Republican representatives.	Wuerker, Matt	2023
Kim Jong-un	Wuerker, Matt	2017
Marco Rubio	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Mike Johnson	Wuerker, Matt	2024?
Omarosa Manigault Newman	Wuerker, Matt	2018
Rand Paul	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Ron DeSantis	Wuerker, Matt	2023
Sarah Huckabee Sanders	Wuerker, Matt	2018
Scott Walker	Wuerker, Matt	2015
Tim Kaine with Hillary Clinton	Wuerker, Matt
Tim Waltz	Wuerker, Matt	2024
Vladimir Putin	Wuerker, Matt	2017

my collection mounted in a portfolio *updated - missed this page originally

Ruth Ginsberg by Ann

John Boehner by Matt

Melania and Trump by Matt

(1) These are part of the Library of Congress' Art Wood collection, but were hung in the bar before the Library acquired it from Wood.

Cartooning Would-be Kings event photos (UPDATED)

Journalists and editorial cartoonists around the world are facing unprecedented attacks.

Please join us May 5, in Washington, DC, to celebrate World Press Freedom Day with a panel of legendary cartoonists out on the front lines of free speech — and for the announcement of the 2025 Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award by Cartoonists Rights.

Katherine Jacobsen of the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) will deliver a keynote address on the state of press freedom in the U.S. and share findings from CPJ's April 2025 U.S. Report.

Syracuse University’s Institute for Democracy, Journalism & Citizenship

PARTICIPANTS:

• Barry Blitt, The New Yorker

• Kevin "KAL" Kallaugher, The Economist

• Joel Pett, Tribune Content Agency

• Signe Wilkinson, Philadelphia Inquirer

KEYNOTE:

Katherine Jacobsen, U.S., Canada, and Caribbean Program Coordinator, Committee to Protect Journalists

MODERATOR:

Roslyn Mazer, SU alumna and free expression champion

Sponsored by Cartoonists Rights,  Committee to Protect Journalists,  Freedom Cartoonists, The Herb Block Foundation

Pett, Bliss, Signe, KAL

Roslyn Mazer

Herblock foundation heads Marcy and Sarah, Joel Pett, and local NCS chapter head Carolyn Belefski.  

Bro Russell and KAL

Barry Blitt (left)

Nik Kowsar (right)

Barry Blitt drawing of Jeff Bezos

Joel Pett drawing of Mitch McConnell

Matt Wuerker drawing of Elon Musk

Nik Kowsar drawing

 

 

 

 

KAL drawing of Trump

 

 

 

Joe Sutliff and Matt Wuerker

Katherine Jacobsen, Committee to Protect Journalists

Introducing the 2025 Robert Russell Courage in Cartooning Award

Zehra Ömeroğlu's pre-recorded speech accepting the award

Nik and KAL

Clay Jones snuck in