Everyone knows election season can get a bit catty, but this year’s race for Virginia’s Senate Seat got cattier than usual when Hank The Cat, a Maine coon from Northern Virginia garnered over 7,000 votes and took third place in the hotly contested race.

Hank “the Tank” led a fierce campaign against Democratic Senator-elect Tim Kaine and Republican former Sen. George Allen, the latter candidates being separated by a mere 180,000 votes out of the nearly 3.7 million votes cast.

Hank and his owners, Anthony Roberts and Matthew O’Leary, pitched a fierce, fabulously feline platform for their furry friend, with slogans that included “Milk in every bowl,” “Vote the humans out,” and “Our time is MEOW!” In addition, Roberts, O’Leary, and “Friends of Hank” spent nearly 12 hours at polling stations on Election Day, trying to gain last-minute votes.

Was the Hank campaign “purr-fect?” Clearly not. But despite the loss, Hank and his owners have raised over $60,000 for animal rescue organizations, including Four Paws, Animal Allies, the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria, and a Russian animal welfare organization (chosen by a foreign “Friend of Hank” who helped design campaign merchandise.)

Want to learn more about Hank and his friends? Visit his campaign website here. Not interested? Here is a cute cat video to spice up your Wednesday. Meow.

Photo Credit: Hank For Senate, EMM