David Horsey

David Horsey – Life, Career, and Memorable Statements

Explore the biography of American editorial cartoonist David Horsey (born 1951), his career, style, influence, and some of his notable quotes.

Introduction

David Horsey (born 1951) is an American editorial cartoonist and political commentator whose incisive illustrations and commentary have appeared in major newspapers across the the U.S. Over a long career, he’s become known for sharp satire, visual metaphor, and consistent engagement with political and social issues. His work has earned him two Pulitzer Prizes and wide syndication.

Early Life and Education

• Birth and childhood
  Horsey was born in Evansville, Indiana and moved with his family at the age of three to Seattle, Washington.

• Early interest in drawing & school newspaper
  In high school (Ingraham High School in Seattle), he drew cartoons for The Cascade, the school newspaper.

• University & further education
  He attended the University of Washington, where, as a freshman, he became the editorial cartoonist for the student newspaper The Daily. 1976 with a degree in communication studies.

  Later, he earned a master’s degree in international relations at the University of Kent (England). Seattle University.

Career and Achievements

Early Journalism & Cartooning

After graduation and early reporting work (such as for the Bellevue Journal-American), Horsey began his career more squarely in editorial cartooning.

In 1979, he was hired as the editorial cartoonist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a position he held through much of his early and mature career.

Syndication & National Reach

Horsey's cartoons are syndicated through Tribune Content Agency (and related distribution) to hundreds of newspapers nationwide, allowing his work to reach audiences well beyond Seattle. The New York Times, The Washington Post, Chicago Tribune, USA Today, and others.

Transitions among newspapers

• At the end of 2011, Horsey left the Seattle Post-Intelligencer and took up work with the Los Angeles Times.

• He continued with the LA Times until January 2018.

• Afterwards, his cartoons appeared in The Seattle Times until July 2018.

• He currently works via Tribune Content Agency, providing his cartoons for syndication.

Awards & Recognition

Horsey is one of the few cartoonists to have won the Pulitzer Prize for orial Cartooning twice: first in 1999, then again in 2003.

He has also been a Pulitzer finalist (for example in 1987) and has received other honors such as the Robert F. Kennedy Journalism Award for cartoons related to social justice.

Other awards include first place in regional cartooning contests, the Berryman Award, and the Environmental Media Award.

Collections & Books

Horsey has published several volumes of his cartoons over the years:

• Politics and Other Perversions (1974)

• Horsey’s Rude Awakenings (1981)

• Horsey’s Greatest Hits of the ’80s (1989)

• The Fall of Man (1994)

• One Man Show (1999)

• From Hanging Chad to Baghdad (2003)

• Draw Quick, Shoot Straight (2007)

• Refuge of Scoundrels (2013) He also coedited Cartooning AIDS Around the World.

His archives and papers are preserved, for example in institutional collections, signaling his cultural importance.

Style, Themes & Influence

Horsey’s cartoons often combine visual satire, metaphor, and text (sometimes short commentary or captions) to critique political power, social inequities, and cultural trends.

He describes cartoons as more than decoration: they act as “points of entry” into newspapers—they provoke debate, highlight contradictions, and invite reflection.

He has self-described as a “radical centrist,” intending to target ideological excesses on both the left and right rather than aligning purely with one side.

Over decades, he has engaged with major historical and political moments—Presidential elections, scandals, wars, cultural conflicts—and his cartoons have both reflected and shaped public conversation.

Notable Quotes & Public Remarks

While Horsey is primarily visual in his medium, he has made several remarks about his craft and about civic discourse:

• On cartoons’ role:

  “Cartoons are a point of entry into newspapers … they give people something to argue about.”

• On ideological independence:

  He has said he tries to avoid being too ideologically driven, preferring to critique extremes on both sides rather than align rigidly with one party.

• On mistakes & apologies:
  In November 2017, while writing a column for the Los Angeles Times, Horsey made disparaging remarks about Sarah Huckabee Sanders’s appearance. He later issued a public apology, removed the remarks, and acknowledged that his description was insensitive.

These incidents reflect both the power and sensitivity of combining visual commentary with textual opinion in public journalism.

Lessons & Legacy

From David Horsey’s life and work, several lessons and takeaways emerge:

1. The power of brevity in critique
   An editorial cartoon must often convey a strong point in one image (and sometimes a sentence)—Horsey shows how economy of expression can carry weight.

2. Independence matters
   By not aligning rigidly with one side, Horsey has preserved the ability to criticize across ideological divides, maintaining credibility.

3. Adapt to change in media
   Horsey’s transitions—from print newspapers to syndication, from one publication to another—demonstrate how a cartoonist must evolve in a shifting media landscape.

4. Accountability in public commentary
   His public apology over the 2017 column illustrates the responsibility that comes with visibility and influence—even for satire artists.

5. orial cartoons as civic conversation
   Horsey’s view of cartoons as “entry points” underscores that cartoons are not sideshows—they are a central part of public discourse, capable of raising awareness, questioning authority, and provoking deeper thought.

His legacy lies not just in individual cartoons, but in a body of work that maps four decades of American politics, culture, and debate—rendered in lines, shading, metaphor, and wit.