An elephant represents the mighty Republican vote, ... In other images, Nast did portray Democrats as a donkey, picking up a symbol that had largely been forgotten after Jackson left office.

Unlike the Democrats, the Republican Party has embraced its party mascot. The elephant appeared in July at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. It appears on the party's website. It ...

The Republican elephant (“the sluggish animal”) is lying on and blocking the road to an election victory. By 1880, other cartoonists had picked up the symbols and spread them across the country.