We’re only meow checking out this unlikely presidential candidate

Feeling on the fence about the upcoming presidential election? Purrhaps you just haven’t found the right candidate fur you.

In which case Limberbutt McCubbins, the first ever Democat to run for president, wants your vote in 2016.

McCubbins, an adorable gray tabby, actually has quite an astute mix of policies under his purrview. A quick scroll through his social meowdia pages or his website might suggest that McCubbin’s candidacy is nothing but a joke (although there’s a decent tuna casserole recipe on the site), but buried underneath the cat puns, McCubbin’s actually advocating for policies through the guide of his human handlers.

Isaac Weiss and Emilee McCubbins (who curiously shares a last name with Limberbutt) work as his campaign managers, and through them, L. McCubbins advocates for rules that, curiously enough, would make it harder for “joke” write-in candidates to pass Federal Election Commission standards.

Of course, people have actually nominated and even elected animals for office before, and McCubbins isn’t even the only high profile animal contender for the U.S. election. (Lucy Lou, a—gasp—DOG is also running.) But while people might’ve perceived that McCubbins’s candidacy is a joke, according to Weiss, the support this kitty candidate’s garnered taps into a real feeling among voters this year:

"I would argue that people today have become fed up with the two-party system. Limberbutt, for them, is an outlet to voice their frustrations and have a political discussion with a true outsider and hopeful Washington fat cat."

And all that said? Don’t vote for McCubbins as a write-in — his handlers cannot stress that enough, and neither can we. The stakes are always high in elections, but it particularly seems so this year. McCubbins is the quite cute face of a larger voter discontent, but he’s also a Trojan Horse (Trojan… cat?) to get people interested and engaged in politics, even if it initially starts off as a joke. Though don’t tell McCubbins that to his face — oblivious to his handlers’ human agenda, he’s still got whiskers in the game.