This American Life of Pablo

An absurdly high-profile launch of my campaign for Standing Committee of Correspondents.

Over the weekend, This American Life airs a segment about me: my oil paintings, my Frederick Douglass portrait, and the moment I decided to run for the Standing Committee of Correspondents. Host Ike Sriskandarajah frames it as an Icarus story. He’s not wrong. But Icarus didn’t file for office.

The episode chronicles how I went from finding a box of abandoned art supplies on my front stoop to painting 18 Mitch McConnells, receiving a FaceTime call from President Biden, and pushing for my Frederick Douglass painting to hang in the press gallery. It ends with an announcement: I’m running for Standing Committee.

No candidate for Standing Committee has ever had a launch this high-profile. One fact I got wrong in the episode: I’m eligible to run starting October 1st, not a year or two from now. October 1, 2026. The signature deadline in December and the election in January. What this episode signals — and what I intend to demonstrate — is that if elected, I will think big and push hard for press freedom, potted plants, and gallery decorations.

— Pablo