The elephant became linked to the Republican Party largely due to the work of political cartoonist Thomas Nast, who is often credited with popularizing both symbols. In an 1874 cartoon published ...

For all the talk about his being a renegade and a one-man wrecking ball, he displays a clear appreciation of the centrality ...

The image resonated with the party and its supporters, solidifying the elephant as a symbol of Republican ideals. Much like the donkey, the elephant conveys the qualities the party aspires to ...

Since 1860, those two parties have been the Democratic Party and the Republican Party. The Republican Party emerged in 1854 from the embers of the anti-slavery movement and the ashes of the Whigs.