Wednesday, July 1, 2026

By Brad Pyle

Making sure our endorsed candidates win their elections is a top priority at Humane World Action Fund. While we invest a great deal of time and effort into identifying candidates to support, the real work comes when it’s time to support them with the information, resources, and votes they need to win on election day.

Telling the story

To ensure that humane-minded voters know who to back at the ballot box, we publicize the records of pro-animal candidates with various communications tools. We share our endorsements with our network of supporters. We create press releases, blogs, and social media that uplift endorsed candidates to further get the word out.

Independent expenditures are also a key part of our communications strategy. Humane World Action Fund has produced mailers, digital campaigns and television ads to broadcast exactly where candidates stand on animal protection.

Importantly, we focus on local media by submitting letters to the editor detailing candidates’ humane accomplishments. We recently placed letters reminding Virginians to consider animal protection at the ballot box, praising Washington lawmakers’ humane actions during session, and endorsing allies like Rep. Carter Nordman (R) who went on to champion the bill that made Iowa the 50th state to make extreme animal cruelty a felony offense.

The resources they need

Political action committees are a primary instrument for supporting election campaigns, not least because they allow individuals to pool financial resources in support of pro-animal candidates.

Between 2019 and 2023, Humane World Action Fund launched 16 state PACs. Since then, we have raised and contributed close to half a million dollars to support tenured allies and new champions at the state and local level, from California to Iowa to New Jersey.

Our contributions to these campaigns build relationships both with newly elected officials and with officeholders, including those with power over the fate of humane legislation and consequential regulatory actions. Our PAC work also demonstrates that animal advocates are engaged, active, and willing to devote resources to elect the right candidates and help them stay in office or seek other positions in government.

In North Carolina, for example, we supported Jeff Jackson (D) in his campaign to become the state’s Attorney General through our PAC and in other ways. He had served in the North Carolina Senate and the U.S. Congress. Since winning election in 2024, Attorney General Jackson has worked to raise awareness among consumers in his state about the puppy mill-to-pet store pipeline and the dogs it exploits for profit.

Getting out the vote

Finally, we work to turn animal advocates into a large and consistent voting bloc by making sure our members know when, where, and how to vote in every election. Humane World Action Fund joins hundreds of other organizations in celebrating National Voter Registration Day to encourage civic participation and preparedness. We also maintain our own elections center where you can register to vote, double check your registration, request an absentee ballot, and find your polling place.

Acting to end animal cruelty

We are serious in our efforts to reach and engage voters who care about animals and to inspire candidates to use their political influence and platforms to make a difference. We are proud of our public policy work at the federal level, like our steadfast defense of Proposition 12 and other state-level public health and farm animal welfare laws, our strong push for passage of the Better CARE for Animals Act, and our many other priorities.  We've also increased our footprint for appropriations or federal funding work, too. At the same time, we are making increased commitments of time, energy and resources in states and localities, understanding that they too are sites for potential progress in our work to help animals—all animals. Companion animals, wildlife, animals in research and testing, animals raised for food—they are all subjects of our compassionate concern and our legislative and policy work.

This year, with political positions on the ballot at all levels, Humane World Action Fund is deploying policy questionnaires, rolling out endorsements, and communicating with campaigns as races heat up across the country. If you are a voter who cares about animals, we encourage you to make your concern known to candidates and to follow our work as we continue to highlight humane champions who need our support.

To win the big fights for animals, we’re going to have to become ever more sophisticated in our use of the political process and the election cycle, and we will also need to strengthen our practical and financial investments in political action. We are doing so with the conviction that the returns on those efforts will be great, because humane candidates become humane lawmakers who pass pro-animal legislation and support pro-animal regulatory policies and actions. This is a path with great potential for advancing our animal protection work, and one that promises to bring us that much closer to the end of animal cruelty and suffering.

Brad Pyle is political director of Humane World Action Fund.